Lost Element
by Nocturn3
Summary: Stuck in Academy City, Sans must learn to live in a world he never knew existed. Being classified as a Level 5 Esper was surprising enough for him, but even more to those who see how lazy he is. Lucky for him no one knows his true power, and as darkness begins to breed in the streets it may be up to him to pass Judgement... before someone else passes Judgement on him.
1. Ariel Gaster

**Heya. I know these summaries can get tedious so I'll get right to the point. This story follows Sans in his arrival into Academy City as a new student. All reasoning as to why will be explained later. His appearance… you'll see. As a fan of generic Sans not much will change on him. As for his route? He comes from… Genocide. A route where Chara, you, give up fighting Sans and he is left alone after you admit defeat. This story will NOT feature Chara nor Frisk as a main character. Nor Asgore/Flowey.**

 **Railgun wise? To avoid possible spoilers, I'll avoid alluding to anything about Railgun in future episodes and start off before the Level Upper was introduced to the public. Note that things may not happen in the same order as they do in the show.**

 **Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy. Without further ado, I give you… Lost Element.**

 _ **XxXxXxX**_

Chapter 1: Ariel Gaster

A cold breeze blew as yet another bone chilling snap filled the air. The bone projectile went directly through the child's insides and came out on the opposite sides. The smell of blood filled the air, a fitting setting for the blood curling screech that came out of the kid. However, Sans took no pleasure in this. He only readied himself for the world to go white and reset again.

And then it did.

As the white died down and the room came into focus again, all Sans could see was the same hallway he'd come to know as his own personal hell. Vibrant colors of orange and yellow soon to be covered only by the dust of battle and LOVE it had come to be. Looking his opponent in the eyes he could muster a chuckle at the desperation and rage he saw, "Heya. That face you're wearing… I can't even tell how many times I've killed you now. Twenty? Thirty? Who knows. All I know is tha-"

Chara slashed out at the skeleton in an attempt to achieve a surprise, only for the skeleton to teleport behind the demon and deliver a massive blow with a rather large Gaster Blaster. "...Is that I'm getting real tired." Frisk leapt back to their feet Hit Points restored and a demonic look to their face.

Sans sighed. "Have it your way kid…." He flicked up a field of bones that ripped apart the floor in a zigzag race to be the first to hit Chara. They jumped out of the way, using inhuman like strength to hold onto a nearby pillar and dodge his attacks. "Our reports showed a massive anomaly in the time space continuum. Timelines jumping left and right, stopping and starting…"

Several Gaster Blasters materialized from the air around the Demon with the desire to kill in an instant. Frisk barely had time to dodge before the skull's wicked jaw dislocated from the sides and the eyes began to flicker, letting out a deadly beam of light that vaporized the spot they were hanging and the pillars that stood behind it. "Until suddenly, everything ends."

Chara hit the floor on all fours, dust covered dagger in hand and breathing heavily. "Heh heh heh… that's your fault isn't it?" Charas eyes opened wide as six bones, as tall as the room itself, began making a path of carnage towards them. Weaving left and right they tried to dodge the bones, but every time one went by it just turned around and came right back in for another shot.

The skeleton's eye began to glow with a blue fury reserved for only the worst scum of the Underground as he raised his hand, molded like a finger gun, at Chara. "You can't understand how this feels!" he yelled, an enormous Gaster Blaster firing immediately at the child, striking them directly in the chest and sending them flying across the room, blood spraying everywhere. Charred bits of cloth hit the floor as Chara clutched the hole in their chest, the wound already healing but at the cost of Hit Points.

"Knowing that one day… without warning.." He readied another attack, but found that Chara had disappeared. There wasn't any smoke in the room nor was there any LOVE signatures in the room. "It's all going to be reset..?"

Sans looked around the destroyed judgement hall but found nothing. No major outcrops to hide behind. No cheap tactics to surprise him with. After a few moments of searching for where his opponent could have gone, he gave up. "huh. where'd the pipsqueak go?" he asked himself as made his way to Asgore's chamber, the dust finally setting to rest behind him in that forsaken hallway. It didn't make much sense to Sans that Frisk would leave the battle, no he would have sensed it and gave chase. Something was wrong… no, not wrong, Different. He hadn't seen this in one of his dreams before. This was new.

Pushing aside the grand door he entered the Royal Chamber, flowers lie happily in the ground awaiting their daily water. Sadly however, it seemed Asgore was nowhere to be found. So instead Sans made his way to the back room. Perhaps Asgore was waiting at the barrier preparing to absorb the souls as ordered by Alphys. He began walking through the grand golden arches into the darkness of the cave. It made him stop a moment to adjust his eyes, but overall there was still enough light from the surface to see.

Near the end of the walkway was a single archway, but the entrance was blocked off by what seemed to be a cave in. Shrugging Sans just teleported behind the rocks. He had been there before after all, he knew the coordinates.

On the other side lie the whiteness of the barrier. "Still up I see. Huh, even with everyone dead it still stands strong, huh." He wasn't in the mood for any humor, but still felt it enough to talk to himself. "Wonder how long it'll take to stretch the old funny bone?"

"You've come to the wrong place."

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

Sans sat on the bus fingering the small pass in his hand. Hand. It had come to be a new feeling to him after the incident. Looking down at his left hand he traced the lines in his palm, eyeing the flesh with interest and curiosity. What had happened at the barrier that day was something he wouldn't forget. Something he'd have to remember for later. Something... _Sans-sational._

"Your claims that you're actually a skeleton aren't strengthened by motions like staring at your hands, Arial." his guide told him, breaking him from his thoughts. Sans clenched his hand into a fist in response and smiled a big goofy grin at the name she called him. The name Arial was the name he had told them at first. Arial Gaster. Later when he had tried to clear up what his real name was, Sans, they only assigned it as his "codename". Annoying, but he was too lazy to try and fix it. It also seemed as if they refused to believe his story of being a skeleton and told him to stop pretending. He tried telling the truth...

Looking out of the bus window Sans watched trees and other scenery fly by. Shacks and roads seemed to be popular, but no other vehicles had crossed them since they left the capital. Instead people walked to their villages with pails of water and bags of rice. However, the bus brought no special attention it seemed. Closing his eyes as the sun met his gaze, he realized how fatigued he was and how much had actually happened since his last rest. His thoughts began to wander from place to place before finally neared a peaceful slumber.

"Not so fast there." His African American guide warned him before he could fall to rest, "You can sleep on the jet. We need to get your story straight first if you're going to make it through international customs." The black lady told him. He sighed, it wasn't the first time he had been told what to say in case he was questioned. Apparently waking up in a place known as Africa with American blood is cause enough for immediate relocation. Maybe a recap was in order.

After absorbing a Human Soul to escape the dead Underground, he had gained Humanity somehow. According to the locals the Now-Dead-Underground was located in a place called Africa, but the fact that he was white and had DNA lining up with a missing child from America seven years ago… well that was why he was on his way to the top research facility in the world.

"I am Ariel Gaster, an American student who lost all his memories and woke up in the diamond mines of Sierra Leone. All I want to do is get a proper education since that's all my parents left for me in their will. I am not to let them know about my 'dreams' of being a skeleton and wish to be treated normally, not as an Esper. I got it, I got it. I _nose_ what I'm talking about." he chuckled. He had become notorious for puns like those. It was an amazing bonus being human that he had more body parts to make puns with. The woman only rolled her eyes in response, but seemed to agree he knew what to say.

The bus came to a stop and his guide stopped her questioning as well. "This is as far as the bus will take us. We will need you to telepo- I mean 'shortcut' us us to the airport." She told him, showing him a picture of an airport with the X and Y coordinates scripted below. Sans rolled his eyes but agreed as he opened a "Shortcut" to the location in the picture. One step closer to his destination. One step further from the Deadened Underground.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

 **ATTENTION: Sans IS human now. The government knows ONLY about his ability to create "shortcuts" using x y coordinates. However, they know nothing of his: Short distance teleport, bone projectile, Gaster Blasters, gravity shift, Judgement eye, fragileness, combat manipulation, or Special Move: Megalovania. In the next chapter/ONE SHOT add on he will be in Academy City. This chapter was just set up sadly, but set up that needed to happen. You can expect a full out duel between our Electromaster and Skeleton in the future.**

 ** _Catalog_** _ **of Discovered Abilities:**_

 **Shortcut (Ability): Sans is able to teleport up to 500 Miles away if the known X and Y coordinates are present. However, without a picture of the location he cannot choose the altitude of his teleport. Without a picture he will ALWAYS land upon the highest land mass he can physically enter. (Ex. Rooftop) MUST be created in a shadow.**

 **Thanks for reading! Every review counts guys and gals, please don't be afraid to leave one to support the story. I look forward to reading all of the comments. PM me if you have any concerns or requests you'd rather not say in a review. Have a nice day!**


	2. Bioweapon

**Leave a review for faster updates!**

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Chapter 2: Bioweapon

It was a beautiful day outside. The birds were singing, and the flowers were nearing that beautiful stage of blossom we call "bloom". It was days like these that Mikoto Misaka wished... the day would go by faster. After all, she was on a mission.

After a long day in the Tokiwadai Middle School she had obtained a mild headache that, unlike the tingling sensation in her spine, she could not get used to. Visions of the mounds of homework flashed in her head as she shuddered. Maybe she could copy off of Kuroko's when she got back to the dorm?

She shrugged to herself and began walking again as the street light flipped to green. It used to mystify her as a child that one 'green light man' could halt all the power held in the armada of cars that stayed just behind the white line of the crosswalk. Focusing back onto the street as she re-entered the sidewalk, Misaka was finally able to see her destination…

"GEKOTA GIVEAWAY!" the banner had said above the bookstore. Apparently in celebration of a new kids book section in the store. Somehow they managed to strike a deal with the wildly popular kids show. Little did they know that the well known Tokiwadai Ace herself was about to have her hopes and dreams filled by this little arrangement for kids.

Misaka was skipping towards the store with the look of euphoria on her face, and she hadn't even seen the Gekota yet. Her briefcase was filled with schoolwork but that didn't stop her little Gekota charm from bouncing daintily on the chain attached to the side of her bag as she skipped. Bouncing forwards to the store with glee, she kept repeating the same thing in her head. ' _Gekota Gekota Gekota Gekota GEKOTA!'_

The overdose of happiness only continued as she made her way up to the main desk with glee. "Do you happen to have any of the free Gekota's left?" the Level 5 asked without a single worry. She had arrived mere moments after the line disappeared to be sure to score one. The perfect excuse was in order too, her poor 'little sister' Kuro-

"I'm sorry we're all out." The lady behind the desk informed her, "We ran out about five minutes ago when a small woman came through with twelve children! I'm sorry though miss, we still have a great selection of books you may enjoy!" the lady continued. However poor Misaka lost her attention after the first sentence. _'H-how can they b-be all out?!'_ she thought to herself. On the inside she was panicking, but on the outside she was also panicking.

She turned to make direct eye contact with the owner and slammed her palms onto the mahogany business table, the face of pure distress coming from her face. "P-please tell me you can order more!" Misaka pleaded with the lady, who now was taken aback by the outburst.

"Young lady where are your manners!" the owner replied just below a shout to the Level 5, "People are trying to read in here, I expected more of a Tokiwadai student!" she finished. Railgun set into a mad blush seeing the amount of people staring at her now that she looked around. Quickly she put her hands together in an awkward bow and apologized to the woman. "I'm sorry miss!"

The owner shook her head, most likely in amazement of this generation, before reaching under the table for something. "...We do happen to have our display Gekota if you would so happen to want it." The lady then showcased what had to be the display Gekota she had mentioned, making Misaka go into a state of starry-eyed wonder again.

Misaka offered any kind of thanks she knew how to give as the woman handed over the small Gekota to her. It was a collectors edition Gekota of a Gekota reading a book. Railgun quickly linked it onto her chain next to her other Gekota with glee. "Thank you again!" she called out as she left the bookstore fulfilled, her mission achieved. Feeling satisfied she left for her dorm with a spring in her step. That was until screams began to pierce the air and the sound of sirens clogged what wasn't disrupted by the yelling.

Two anti-skill personnel vehicles barreled down the road after a large black van driven by two men garbed in the typical robber attire of a ski mask and tan jackets. Luckily there wasn't too much traffic on this part of town, but those who were on the road were quick to pull over, or be guided off by the defense bots.

Misaka sprang into action as she jumped from the sidewalk and onto the road. Dodging an oncoming car who was in a hurry to get off the road, she pulled a coin out of her pocket and readied an assault in the middle of the street. Coin between her fingers, she flipped it into the air, watching with a precise eye as the enemy van made a sharp turn onto the road she was on to avoid Antiskill personnel.

Smirking, the coin fell back to her fingers in perfect sync and she let go all of the energy she had been holding up. Electricity coursed through her body as she became a living lightning rod, channeling all of her potential energy into electrical energy that came pulsing out of her body. It didn't stop there however, it hit the coin and the power became magnified as a conductor was found.

The Railgun of lightning went right through the left tire of the vehicle, causing the van to begin swerving uncontrollably until it flipped onto its side and came to a grinding halt mere feet in front of Misaka. Unfazed, she stared at the vehicle, watching as the two men crawled out of the drivers seat door with their hands above their heads.

"P-please! We give in! Just don't hurt us!" one cried in fear of another railgun attack even though he was unharmed. The other had a gash in his arm, but it was their fault for stealing the van to begin with so she didn't care much. Speaking of vans…

"What's in the van that you're trying to steal? Or did you just steal a crappy van?" Misaka questioned the two sobbing idiots in front of her. Neither of the two would answer, and before she could ask again Antiskill and Judgement were already there. Railgun looked at the approaching armed men and women with comfort as she relaxed her posture. This wasn't her first deal helping Antiskill nor Judgement as a citizen. The leader of the vehicle chase team had the two men immediately put in handcuffs and soon was repeating the same question Misaka had asked.

The two men were shaken, but the guns pointed in their direction helped get their vocal cords working again, "W-we were told this was a bioweapon that was supposed to be shipped to the Science division for immediate research. Boss was going to do a raid on it but we wanted the fame on it and tried to take it ourselves…"

Suddenly a new voice came from the inside of the van, "me? a bioweapon?"

 _ **XxXxXxXxXx**_

Sans had been having a pretty tough time dealing with the jet lag getting to Academy City, so when he fell asleep in the back of the van it was no surprise to his guide or driver. However, it was almost unbelievable to hear that the boy in the van had managed to sleep through a kidnapping.

It had happened fast. They had only left the van to show paperwork to the chief of security for a moment before two men jumped in the car and drove off. The key hadn't even been removed from the ignition! Ariel Gaster had managed to stay asleep in the back of the van regardless of sirens, sudden sharp turns, or even the yelling of the two men in the front seat.

It wasn't until the car was flipped on it's side did the boy wake up. Shaking his head, he looked around to see his surroundings. "Let's see… five fingers? Check. Five more fingers? Check. Face intact? _Cheek_. Heh heh heh." Sans joked with himself. He began standing up until he realized he was sideways, or more likely the van was sideways. "Well, can't always get your _way_ huh?"

He reached for the handle on the back of the van, but found it to be locked, or worse blocked. This being the case, he had nowhere else to go so he just sat tight and waited. That's when he heard the voice from outside his metal prison.

"P-please! We give in! Just don't hurt us!" a voice cried out, peaking his interest. Sans had never seen human interaction here before, but based on what he had seen since his exit from the Dead-Underground.. lets just say he had seen a very similar society to the monsters.

Silence crept in as no reply was given to the terrified voice.

"What's in the van that you're trying to steal?" Another voice added in a delayed response. Steal? Is that what happened? What is there to steal in here besides… him…. Wow. They're in for a _shock_ when they see him. That is electricity he feels right?

More silence.

"W-we were told this was a bioweapon that was supposed to be shipped to the Science Division for immediate research. Boss was going to do a raid on it b-b-but we wanted the fame on it and tried to take it ourselves…" yet another voice called out. It was at this point that Sans had to intervene.

Walking as far towards the front of the van as he could, he called through the mesh wall that singled the drivers side and the storage portion of the van apart, "me? a bioweapon?" he chuckled. "hate to tell you, but if it's a bioweapon you want, you're lacking the weapon part of that name. Maybe just Bio would work, but I prefer Sans."

A quietness set in as he couldn't tell what was going on or if they could even hear him. "Hey... my name i-" and before he could finished the back doors swung open and he was face to face with about ten men with guns. There were even some trashcans with three legs..?

"Target is emitting a high Esper level." one of the men said, "Ability however is unknown." Sans heard them whisper. He would need to remember that. Esper level.. "Sans was it? Step out of the vehicle with your hands up." One of the armed forces called out. Sans nodded and walked out calmly with his hands up in the air, the sunlight making his already pale skin seem paler.

Sans realized something in that moment though. It really was a beautiful day outside. The birds weren't singing anymore though, and there weren't any flowers around to check the bloom. Sans just wished time would go by faster though. After all, being in the custody of Antiskill for no reason is never fun.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXx**_

Kuroko walked into the small laboratory and saw the item of all the professors affection. Ariel. He was apparently an Esper with the same power emitting from him as a level 5, yet he had no special abilities other than an ability similar to her own they called 'Shortcut'. There had been speculation that maybe he was hiding it from them, but then there was the problem of finding it. However before they could get a clear answer on if he was hiding anything, a new problem had come into the picture.

They had been running tests for a week now on the boy, yet nothing had come up, and legally after a week without findings they had to let the person go. Perhaps if his story hadn't gone public... he could have been tested on past the week deadline without the public knowing, like a lab rat, but that wasn't the case. Being so similar to the Esper in ability, Antiskill and Judgement agreed on a join operation to insure the safety of the population to this new character. It was now her job to get the pale Esper around Academy City until further notice. Lovely.

Feeling her phone vibrate in her hand, Kuroko glanced down at her phone and read the message which held the description and knowledge of everything they discovered about him during the week they held him.

Name: Ariel Gaster

Codename: "Sans"

Age: Unknown; Body matched 16 year old while brain matches 28

Gives off the power of a Level 5 Esper, yet ability of "Shortcut" is equal to level 2

Has no reaction to any elements on the Periodic Table

Has a fear of sharp objects

Large bone structure

 **TERRIBLE PUNS**

*Ability to Teleport does not correspond with Esper field frequency

Taking note of the last tid-bit they added onto the text, Kuroko walked over to greet the new kid... could he even be called a kid? More of a teen look to him, even with his gray hair. His frame was sort of big, but one thing to note was he was a bit shorter than the average person. Falling maybe two inches under her own height? Then there was the eyes. His eyes were a mesmerizing shade of blue she hadn't seen before. It reminded her o-

No no no she wouldn't think about Sissy! Not on the job! Calmly recollecting herself Kuroko walked over to Ariel and greeted him, "Hello! My name is Kuroko and I'm your new guide around Academy City! What's your name?"

The doctors quickly abandoned the two in the lobby as they ran back to their labs to run the remaining tests they could while they had fresh data, "I believe you already know it, dontcha?" Sans sent back with a smirk as Kuroko went wide eyes as she realized he knew about the report. "So you're supposed to be my new guide right? Let's get out of here then. I may be lazy, but I don't mind walking if it means getting out of this place. Me and needles don't get along to well anymore."

Nodding she took him by the hand and walked him out the front doors of the lobby and onto the street. Standing on the sidewalk she looked down at the new text from Judgement revealing the address for Sans temporary living arrangements in Academy City. "So how much do you know about this place, Ariel?"

He shrugged, a passerbyer making contact with his shoulder as they walked by, causing him to wince. "I know you guys really hate explaining things." he attempted to relay his annoyance to her, "I have no idea what has been going on for the past week or even where we are going now. I'm just kinda rolling with it at this point."

Pointing him in the correct direction they should be walking she let them get some distance from the laboratory before continuing the conversation. "Let me have the honor of filling you in. Since you were dead once, as it says on your transcript, the country that found you sold you to Academy City in hopes of finding ways to 'cheat death' as you did. However you didn't make it to the lab and the public found you instead due to your 'accident' with the thieves. So in a nutshell you were going to be experimented on but now they can't because your name is public."

"So now the city is forced to victimize me to make them seem like the good guys?" Sans asked, getting a nod from Kuroko. He just had to act interested because he knew this was all most likely just the new cover up story meant to turn any watchful eyes from him. "Huh. So the whole backstory on a kid dyin-"

"Probably total garbage meant to grab the attention of Academy City so they would pay big bucks for you to get you in their labs." she finished. This was starting to hurt his brain a little bit, but he was slowly beginning to understand the complex excuses. "Apartment Complex 404. This is your stop." she informed him, turning to hand Sans a ticket with the number '404' on it. "Just go inside and ask for the room listed under your name. You should find your room pretty quickly after that. I'll be back in the morning to take you to school."

Sans sighed. New body had to have some consequences. School couldn't be that hard after what Gaster taught him right?. "alright then." he told her, looking her directly in the eyes, "sorry just trying to remember your face…" he lied to her and watched as she started blushing. He had no idea why and didn't feel like reading into it. "night miss Shirai Kuroko." he called out to her, his hand waving back at her as he made his way into the building.

Kuroko stood their staring at the entrance to the apartments. The glass windows and white walls looked nice but something was bothering her. She began walking back to the dorm until she it finally hit her. "Shirai… Kuroko…"

She never told him her name was Shirai.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXx**_

"and that day's TODAY." he practically yelled as he slammed a volley of attacks. Gaster Blasters appeared at the blink of an eye and detonated the next. Bones not only covered the majority of the flooring it also found itself coursing around Chara's knife. Their hand always moving to avoid the bones to get ready for their next attack, and Sans knew he couldn't last much longer.

He focused in on the dancing little demon they were and changed the gravity to throw them through the last remaining window into the cavern of scorched and flaming flowers, "cause… y'see… all this fighting is really tiring me out." he spoke again, his voice getting raspy and heavy as the energy drained from his body.

Several bone pillars of changing sizes erupted from the earth and ran after the child like heat seeking missiles. Their relentlessness proved quite the challenge as the bones tore through flesh several times. A crimson shower came from the child as their body hit the ground, no longer able to dodge. Triumphantly Sans summoned a Gaster Blaster to deliver the final blow.

Then he woke up.

He knew it was a dream. Everything was too rushed, the scenery just faded into the background. It didn't feel complete. Yet he still fought, and he knew that too. Now it was a matter of getting rid of the cold sweats.

Sans looked around his apartment room only to see the same bland white color around the two room set up he had been given. All that adorned the small rooms was a bed, a television, and a small kitchen set up. The bathroom was a public one on the first floor as was the shower, so glad the government went all out on housing.

As he left to go get food to eat as he usually did he felt... strange. Something was nagging at him and he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He grabbed a cup off of the table and filled it with water as he continued bouncing ideas around his head on what could be different. It was almost like something was missin-

 _'Don't worry Sans! I'm here for you! No mean cutlery dreams will haunt you as long as I am here! Nyhehehehehehehehe!"_

This was the first time he had woken up with a bad nightmare…. without Papyrus to comfort him. That's when it set in. He was alone. Truly and totally. His brother was dead. His king was dead. His friends were dead. His father was dead. His home was dead. He called it the Dead-Underground for a reason.

Sans walked back to the bed on shaky legs. His cup of water trembling in his hand as he brought it to his lips to drink. Swallowing with a less-than satisfying 'Gulp', he laid back down and rested his head back on the pillow and closed his eyes. He tried to think of good thoughts of better times. A time of spaghetti and friendship. A time when he wasn't giving that _thing_ a bad time _._ 'Yeah that's what this was. It was just a Bad Time for me.' he thought to himself. He just needed to settle in and make new friends. Speaking od that he had every intention of befriending the Shirai girl he met today. He had checked her statistics and her LOVE and EXP were extremely low. Even more so her DETERMINATION was high. Determination…. The root of all of his problems to date, well to him at least. _He_ would have told me to stay determined.

Yeah that's what he would have said.

Stay Determined Sans.

Stay Determined.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXxX**_

 **Well that's it for this chapter. This took a good while to write, about 6 hours? I did it all in one sitting trying to get it done fast. Thoughts?**

 **Thank you to all who reviewed! Your reviews got this chapter put up today instead of Sunday! A big thanks to all of you who PM'd me as well, you also played a big role in this early Chapter release!**

 **Thank you all for reading and as always, have a nice day!**

 ***EDIT: There was a small Error in this chapter that some of you noticed. That has been fixed :) Sorry for the inconvenience!**

 ** _Catalog_** _ **of Discovered Abilities: *UPDATED***_

 _ **Judgement Eye (Ability): By focusing on a person's mind the user can see shards of a person's past. Not enough to know their past, but useful when needing small bits of information or threatening. You can tell when this skill is used when the user's speech seems to… lower. That's typically the case.**_

 _ **Shortcut (Ability): Sans is able to teleport up to 500 Miles away if the known X and Y coordinates are present. However, without a picture of the location he cannot choose the altitude of his teleport. Without a picture he will ALWAYS land upon the highest land mass he can physically enter. (Ex. Rooftop) MUST be created in a shadow.**_


	3. Just an Ordinary Day

**At the time of starting this, the story is at 28 reviews. Thanks to the amount of support, this chapter will be posted a week early :). Enjoy!**

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Chapter 3: Just an Ordinary Day

The classroom was as bland as any other room in the building. Grey tinted walls, a slab of windows dug into one of the walls to make the room seem bigger, and a massive chalkboard for the teachers teaching leisure. The students all wore their white and black, or white and blue for girls, uniforms and were chatting up a storm before class started. That was until the teacher entered the room and the class fell silent.

"Class," the teacher called, gaining all the students attention, "Meet your new student: Ariel Gaster." the teacher announced, sliding the classroom door open to reveal the silver haired boy. All eyes turned to look at the new student, some towards the back of the room needing to stand to get a good view of him.

The boy who walked into the room was wearing a white button up like all of the other boys in the school, but also had managed to obtain a navy blue hoodie that sat over it. Tacky? Yes, but the boy refused to let go of his beloved hoodie, and this was the outcome. He also wore black dress pants that came down to his ankles, his shoes up to code with the school's 'formal wear' policy.

"heya." he told the class, holding his pale hand up in a wave. His sleeve was tight around his wrist, but seemed to cause him no discomfort, "please, call me Sans." he quickly added before shoving his hands back into his jacket pockets. Sending a nod towards the teacher, he made his way towards an empty seat near the back of the room. ' _The window seat. Something to keep me awake, nice..._ ' he thought to himself. He had gotten lucky to get a room with a view.

"Ahem!" The teacher called to get the classes attention. Their eyes were pulled away from the new student as they all faced towards the teacher and he began the class. He began by opening a book labeled ' _Personal Reality: How to obtain a grasp on your world_ " and clearing his throat. "Now class, being level 0's the most important lesson we can teach you is Personal Reality. Rika, can you explain to me exactly what Personal Reality is?"

'Zero' Sans reminded himself as the girl began to ramble on some lengthy answer over PR. This was a class full of people who couldn't use their abilities, or didn't try hard enough to discover them. Yet they seemed determined enough to continue their schooling. He remembered learning this morning what tier level he would be in, and it honestly didn't bother him. In fact it made him feel a bit better, knowing that being stuck in a Level like 0 his onslaught of Esper tests would stop. However, hearing the other kids in the room listen intently to the teacher made him wonder if he would have to put effort into this class.

Skip three hours into the class period, Sans nearly asleep. The teacher began wrapping up his lesson on Personal Reality and the importance of self discovery. "...and discovering who you really are is what Personal Reality truly is. We can't afford just to give up and walk away, yet here some of us are today with limits we feel we cannot reach. In some situations we feel _hopeless._ The key is, and forever will be, Personal Reality." he finished, shutting the book on his podium. Several students jutted awake at the sound, but were heartbroken to see class wasn't over yet.

"One more thing before the bell rings." He began to add onto his already lengthy speech. The students had all assumed it would be homework… but it turns out it was something actually worth hearing. "To help Mr. Gaster catch up with his already missing work and assignments I am allowing him to select a tutor given they are willing to help." the teacher added, sending a gasp through the room. Sans however was half asleep and looked as if he could care less. The only kind of emotion he showed was a sheepish grin towards anyone who looked his way. It was as if he was somewhere else in his head right now..

The teacher stepped off of his podium and started walking to the other side of the room, "The student who chooses to tutor Mr. Gaster will be given extra credit on the next exam, given his scores are good." The teacher then slid open the door as the bell rang in perfect sync. "Have a nice day everyone."

Class being dismissed for the day, people began leaving the room. Sans however, was too drowsy and lazy to even realize what was going on and just stayed in his seat. Noticing the person behind her still sleeping with his head down, she turned around in her chair. The girl in front of Sans tapped on the back of his head to get his attention.

Slowly waking up, Sans lifted his head from the desk only to see the girl in front of him, her hand extended towards Sans, "You going to get up?" she grinned. Sans extended his hand lazily and shook with a firm grip. The girl seemed nice enough, maybe she could tell him where to grab some grub?

"My name is Ruiko Saten, nice to meet you Ariel!" she greeted him. Ariel let out his signature smile towards her as he let go of her hand and began to pack his things into his… briefcase. Yeah that's what they called those things.

As he finished packing up, he noticed Saten and some other girl were still in the room, lucky him. Standing up to his full height of a meager 5'2 Sans went over to the girls to see if they knew where the best spot in town was for quality food.

"Oh?" the other, smaller girl with flowers on her head answered, "Hm… We're going over to the cafe` down the street if you'd like to join us. I'm sure Misaka and Kuroko wouldn't mind…"

 _ **XxXxXxXxXx**_

"Sans?!" the girl yelled in surprise, her eyes wide and full of curiosity on why HE of all people was here.

"Heya. Nice to meet you again too, lighting rod." Sans smirked as the Level 5 could do nothing but eye him as she sat down. On the walk from the school to the cafe`he had been introduced to Kazari Uiharu, the small flower loving friend of Saten. Currently he sat next to his newest acquaintances in the booth of the cafe. He did not however expect to see the girl from the van incident or-

"Sissy!" another voice yelled from across the room. Straightening his slouch so he could over the opposite seat and see the owner of the voice, he saw none other than his guide. Small world. As Kuroko came closer she attempted to jump onto her 'Sissy' with a hug. Emphasis on attempted, as Misaka just zapped her away as she usually did.

It wasn't until Kuroko got back up did she notice their table of four had a new member. "Sans?!" she pointed at him in surprise. Sans just chuckled as he got the same reaction for the second time in a row now, "Heya. Long time no see there…. Huh can't think of a good nickname for you. Anyone wanna help? _Two skulls are better than one_." he joked before realizing that joke lost its effect now that he was human.

Silence. Great now he had made it awkward.

"Alright nevermind. Where's the food?" he asked with sudden delight. Well, as delightful as Sans could be. He was almost always monotone if he wasn't cracking a joke. Saten waved over a waitress to come and serve them as conversation began to fill the table over stories of how their day went and what their plans were for the afternoon. Even Sans was able to join in on the conversation.

Not long after their discussions began to die down did the waitress bring over a tray filled with various foods they had ordered. The food varied from small sandwiches to quiches. Ready to dig in everyone grabbed their plates and dug in.

"Mhhhm! This pie is amazing!" Saten cooed from the opposite side of a slice of lemon meringue pie. Misaka couldn't even talk as she was shoveling in her sandwiches with speed and precision. Sans however just looked down at his sandwich with lackluster. He was disappointed by the look on his face, but he knew one thing that would change that.

"Do you have any ketchup?" Sans asked the waiter when she came by. Miraculously she pulled out a small squirt bottle of the red substance and handed it over. What luck!

All eyes were on Sans as he opened his sandwich up and absolutely smothered it in ketchup. It just kept coming from the bottle and it seemed as if bread would hold no chance of keeping it all together. However, much to everyone else's disgust, Sans was able to devour the meal without even as much as batting an eye or leaving a trace of the red sauce.

Uiharu's meal came a bit later than everyone else since their ice cream machine was broken, but as it arrived her face lit up the table. She reached down for the spoon it came with, but suddently her phone began to vibrate, surprising her for a moment. Reaching down she grabbed it and flipped it open.

"Mhmm… Mhhm… Yeah. Yes mam! We'll be over there right away!" she exclaimed, shutting the phone with a satisfying 'SLAP'. Sitting her spoon back down next to her uneaten ice cream, she got out from the booth and looked over at Kuroko. "Come on, Judgement calls!" she told her partner. Apparently there had been a big dispute a few blocks away and it needed to be taken care of.

Kuroko sighed and got out of the booth as well, leaving her remaining sandwiches on the table for someone else. She waved goodbye to her friends in the cafe` then ran out the door to deal with her job in judgement.

"That's where I take my leave as well." Sans said, getting up from the table, "I've got some sleep to catch up on. Thank you for the meal." he finished, making sure to thank the girls. As he left he commended himself for his early retreat, he successfully dodged the bill. Surely one of the girls had money to pay for it… it would be fine.

It was at this point that Sans went home to take a well deserved nap after a long day of classes.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXx**_

A week had passed since his first day of school and his meetings with the girls became a regular thing after school. However today, they had decided not to meet due to Judgement training. So here he was now, wandering the city looking at all there was the surface had to offer. So far all he had discovered was Vending Machines and sidewalk etiquette though. Both seemed useless, but could be applied to almost anywhere in the city.

Walking down the sidewalk, hands shoved into his pockets like usual, he just wandered aimlessly looking at the beautiful scenery of the surface world. Unlike the Underground, the sun cast magnificent shadows that blended into the cement and steel world he had found. Power Lines and wind turbines littered the streets, yet nothing felt crowded. Not even when you added in the amass of robots that completed various tasks throughout the city.

However, the main thing he noticed while walking around was the whispers of people that carried on the wind. Curses towards each other, or misfortunes that they had encountered, but mainly the hatred towards Espers. He had come to the understanding that people were envious when it came to the Espers, and desperately wanted to crack their skulls for having something they couldn't.

It sort of made sense to him. He envied Frisk for having the ability to reset, but hated them for abusing it to kill all of his friends and everyone he knew. That's where his opinions differed. He just wanted his friends to be alive again. Though the chances of that happening at this point was slim to none.

"Hey don't try and slither your way out of here…" said the voice that snapped him out of his thoughts. Looking around for the source of the voice, Sans eventually saw a girl in an alleyway surrounded by a bunch of dirty-looking men, and by dirty looking he meant they had a dirty high LOVE. Diverting his path from the sidewalk, he walked into the small alley way. The men paid him no attention.

"Hehehe… say we take you down to the basin and we have a little fun, eh?" one of the men suggested as he got closer to the young girl. She looked about the same age as Saten, but had more defining features about the bust and rear. Her auburn hair was laid back and neatly combed, all clear signs these weren't her type she hangs with.

Sans stepped closer now, catching the attention of two of the men nearest to him. They turned towards him and cracked their knuckles menacingly. "Get lost kid." One of them threatened, "You don't want none of what we're packin`..." He finished, a large visible smirk filling his face, as he knew he had numbers, and thus the advantage.

"look. you guys got a lot going for ya." Sans started, his arms up in a shrug, " you got two arms... two legs... and even the majority of your teeth." he joked, letting out a big grin. Suddenly though the smile disappeared on a whym, and in it's place the face of death took hold. "however, if you plan on keeping those, i would let the girl go." Sans threatened, his eyes seemingly dimming from existence. Only leaving two black holes in their place.

"He's j-just a kid! Beat him til` he can't see straight!" the leader of the gang ordered. The two men rushed forwards in an attempt to hit Sans, ignoring the fears they recently held. This just made Sans shake his head. "Nah nah nah. I wouldn't do that if you cared about Samantha or Caroline." Sans said with a grin on his face. Instantly the two men froze in fear at the Level 0. One of them actually tripped and fell over he stopped so fast.

"How do you know about her?!" the two men shouted simultaneously. Sans chuckled. Whose idea was it for the brute force of a rapist gang to have children? It didn't matter to him, not at the moment anyways. Instead of answering the men he made direct eye contact with them both. "Well? What'll it be?"

"I'll beat your skull in if you dare touch my daughter!" one of them shouted as a response to the threat. The thug's speech may have sounded tough, but his stance however was entirely different. He shook in his boots, and the same could be said to his comrades behind him. They had no idea if they were next to be threatened or not, or how this mysterious hero knew of their families and past. He was a wild card.

Sans kept his gaze on them, "Look here's how this plays out. You can either keep debating on beating me up or not, or you can just walk away." Waiting to see what their answer would be, Sans pushed past the two men who previously blocked him. Their answer was clear at this point and he grabbed the girl by the shoulder, keeping an eye on the men. As he reached the end of the alleyways exit with the girl, Sans turned to face the men, "Pleasure doing business with you."

After that Sans and the girl simply walked into the street, the innocent girl's face proof of how baffled she was of her escape. "Thank you sir!" she called to him, wrapping him in a sudden hug. Sans just awkwardly patted her on the shoulder in response, not wanting to seem ungrateful for the praise. It didn't help they were in the middle of the street.

Parting ways with the girl, Sans began to notice something about the city. Even with all of the technology he saw, something was off. The men that walked down the streets kept a gleam in their eyes. 'Hm..' Sans thought as he began his walk back to his dorm. 'Maybe Judgement could use a little bit of help….'

He shrugged to himself, a strange sight to onlookers. Passing Judgement himself. Like he should have back when Frisk first showed their face… it might be an idea for the future.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXx**_

The room was dark.

Not just dark, it was an abyss of color. Void of any hints of life and seemingly all encompassing. Then there was a voice.

"We're almost ready to leave." the voice called up to him. "All the preparations you called for have been met with outstanding proportion. This include-"

"Quiet." the other voice responded, "They're here…. and they are confused." the voice finished.

Footsteps could be heard somewhere in the void, perhaps it wasn't a void at all?

"There is no reason to tip them off to any of our whereabouts. I will leave. If they report it back to... it whom shall not be named, we might be in for trouble.." the first voice that spoke talked again. That voice seemed slightly feminine, but it couldn't be determined by the tone they chose to use.

A grunt came in response, "Very well. Leave us."

And then the vision ended.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

 **Heya guys! Sorry for the short chapter. I know not a lot happened in this chapter, it was lackluster to say the least. However, you do get to see Sans use not one, but TWO of his abilities in this chapter.**

 **Thank you all who read this story, your reviews are what got this story a WEEK early. Your next update wasn't until next Sunday, but alas here we are. Leave a review to support the story! More reviews equals faster chapters! PM me for any questions or concerns you have with the story you don't wish to leave in the story, or if you just wish to get my attention faster than an update.**

 **Review Replies:**

 **Gravrobber: Thanks! I am, and no sigh's needed there I'm working hard to get these chapters ready for your reading pleasure.**

 **Raidlyn, Guest, El, Random Fan, kadehex, fabreezing through life, Beth Fergusson, Fandango12345, Zapper3000380, XxOmNiPoTent PriMorDial GodxX, Sakamae Hisamatsu, Lunarella01827, Gerard Morgan, Hold the door for Hodor: Thank you all!**

 **Minxiboo, Beth Fergusson, Guest, Harrison Riley, Multiple-Characters1-Acct: There you all go! Another chapter and weekly updates!**

 **Garussxtali: Will there be any romance? Hmm.. You'll just have to see. PM me for a more specific answer I don't want to fill up this chapter with a paragraph with a question like that :)**

 **Crafted Reality: Yeah, I try. Recently re-beat Genocide Sans so I could better remember his move set.**

 **KZReviewer: I see what you did there. "Sansational". I did write more of it :)**

 **Hellfire1996: Don't you worry there bud, I'm not the kind of guy to go blindly into romance like that. It can easily ruin a story. As for Sans expression, he has also done everything over and over again there. We might see his expression change a little now that he's out of the loop… for now.**

 **Zapper3000380: I'm aware, and that was changed. Thank you for notifying me :).**

 **Guest: Dunno who you are, but you recommended I watch that youtube video. I did enjoy it and the scene in this story where you see Sans use his Shadow Eye is devoted to you :)**

 **Apologies if I missed anyone, my internet isn't the best and checking reviews at this hour is quite hard. Thank you all for reading and have a nice day!**

 ** _Catalog_** _ **of Discovered Abilities: *UPDATED 2x***_

 _ **Judgement (Passive): The ability to read a person's LOVE and EXP.**_

 _ **Judgement Eye (Ability): By focusing on a person's mind the user can see shards of a person's past. Not enough to know their past, but useful when needing small bits of information or threatening. You can tell when this skill is used when the user's speech seems to… lower. That's typically the case.**_

 _ **Shadow Eye (Ability): They say the eyes are the window to the SOUL. The user knows differently, as they can make theirs disappear on command. No side effects or physical effects, good for threatening. DeveLopeD bY ERRoR/?**_

 _ **Shortcut (Ability): Sans is able to teleport up to 500 Miles away if the known X and Y coordinates are present. However, without a picture of the location he cannot choose the altitude of his teleport. Without a picture he will ALWAYS land upon the highest land mass he can physically enter. (Ex. Rooftop) MUST be created in a shadow.**_


	4. Level Breakdown

**Let's go Dirty Brother Killers.**

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

" _Containment 7, failure."_ the man spoke as he rapidly scribbled down seemingly chicken scratch onto the paper. It was _his_ language after all. Commonly known as the language of science.

" _Containment 6, failure."_ he spoke again. It was at this time Sans began to become aware of his surroundings, as if they had begun to fade in from the darkness that shrouded the room. Test tubes of varying colors provided light down the catwalk, and massive steel tubes provided numerous fluids to keep their projects going.

" _Containment 5, …"_ the man turned around, his eyes a dim light and his features invisible in the darkness of the room. It didn't matter to Sans though, he knew exactly _who_ it was. He just wanted to know how _he_ was back. " _...Failure."_

Sighing, the man turned to face the other row of tubes with bright colors. He flicked on the glass once, a hollow ' _thuuuumm_ ' sound resounding from the glass enclosure. It was obvious to Sans that this one held something of interest to him. " _Containment 4… Success. Codename Bravery is doing well."_

Moving down the line he continued his observations. " _Containment 3… Partial Success. Codename Justice is struggling a little bit."_ The next container had an eerie green glow to it and seemed to be dimmer than all of the others. Sans wasn't the only one to notice this, as the man in the lab coat wrote it down on his clipboard.

" _Containment 2, complete failure. Codename Integrity to be weakest of the seven."_ He quickly marked before flipping various switches that adorned the bottom rim of the small glass case. The green light began to dim as a metal wall came up to cover the contents. An outsider may believe that he was marking the end of the project for Containment 2, but in reality he was just trying to conserve materials now that he knew the weakest of the seven. After all, they were _very_ limited in what remained.

Going to the final tube, it was obvious the result status. A vibrant red irradiated the area to the point the dimmers had kicked in. The only tube in the room to do so actually, yet it was just as bright as the others. " _My… Total and utter success. Containment 1 will be our choice for the project."_ The man said as he attached his pen to the top of his clipboard.

" _Grab my tool kit from the laboratory, and meet me in the Workshop Sans. We have lots of work to do."_

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

Chapter 4: Level Breakdown

"Sans wake up!" the girl called out to him, grabbing the back of his shoulders and shaking him awake. The pale boy woke up with a jolt, the look of fear in his eyes. Eyes shifting around the small apartment room it took him a moment to realize just exactly where he was. ' _Uiharu's room.'_ he told himself. ' _Uiharu's room. You're safe.'_

Dreams of the Laboratory began to fade as his mind became more tuned back to reality. No longer did Sans feel that warmth that came from the test tubes. No longer did he feel remorse for what happened. After all, it's rude to think about someone who's listening.

"Yeah I'm up…" He told Saten as he put his arms back and leaned, attempting a lazy stretch. As his body left the desk table he had been napping on, Saten looked over in shock to see the entire homework sheet they had been assigned was completed. "Ahe?! How did you manage to complete this entire sheet _and_ fall asleep? I'm not even halfway done with mine yet!" she yelled in disbelief.

Ariel only chuckled in response, continuing his wake up routine by rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and rolling his neck around, "Oh, I just read the book to make sure I was caught up with everyone, and because of that I knew the answers on the sheet. You wanna copy?"

Saten comically snatched the paper off of his desk and began frantically copying down answers before Uiharu had a chance to come home and ramble on reasons for why copying was bad and should be replaced with hard studying. As she was copying down answers Sans could make out a small whisper come out from under her breath. "I thought I was supposed to be tutoring you…"

Grinning at her comment, Ariel decided to keep it to himself what he had heard. Though he did have something he didn't want to keep to himself, he had one nagging question at the forefront of his mind.

"Hey Saten, do you know any rumors… like myths around Academy City?" Sans asked her, watching her perk up with excitement. Clearly this was her forte of expertise because she put her paper and pencil down next to her book immediatly and grabbed the laptop off of her bed.

Frantically clicking around her computer screen, she brought up a website called ' _Academy City UM: Up to date'_ The website had a black background with white text, and so many hyperlinks that this just may have been the center of the web. However, Saten knew what she was doing as she managed to magically pull up a list of different Urban Myths from the city.

"Huh… Urban Myths? I guess that counts as a rumor…" Sans concluded as he gently took the computer, more of she handed it to him, from Saten. Placing it on the desk he began to "thumb through" some of the top ones.

 _ **Academy City UM: Up to date - Database - Users - All - Most Popular**_

 _ **Ability Cancel?! Turn a Level 5 into a Level 1!**_

 _Posted by Tsuna Eelngrad_ 5014 Likes 123 Dislikes

 **The Undresstress of Downtown.**

 _Posted by Sencrips Delez_ 9718 Likes 401 Dislikes

 **Crocodile right under our noses! Must see!**

 _Posted by Lilker Rocc_ 2098 Likes 1890 Dislikes

 **Truth behind Child Errors…** _***Rising Story**_

 _Posted by Cerub Yenaw_ 800 Likes 98 Dislikes

 **Beware the man who speaks in hands.**

 _Posted by The Vierr Anm_ 719 Likes 2817 Dislikes

 **The Level Upper. Power up your life!** _***Rising Story**_

 _Posted by Amayik Rahumi_ 12892 Likes 4473 Dislikes

 _-Back_ _Next Page→_ _1_ _2_ _3_ _4_ _5_ _6_ _..Last_

"Why do you want to know about Urban Myths anyways?" Saten asked him as he read through the website. He took special note on the article by ' _The Vierr Anm'._ To be honest Ariel was nothing but surprised to see that they actually had knowledge of the man. Something to look into later. Looking back to Saten to answer, he made sure to hide his interest in the cryptic article of the handy man, "Well yesterday I heard someone talking about something called the Level Upper and I thought it sounded interesting. Sounds like I asked the right person eh?"

Saten smiled and leaned over, as she was previously standing behind him to see if anything caught his eye, and used the mouse to click on the article about Level Uppers.

"Amayik Rahumi? Such a strange name." she added as the page loaded in, showing the main post followed by a storm of replies made by those who visited the article. Saten decided to ignore the other posts and scrolled directly to the main beef of the subject. Skimming through the pretext she kept quiet until she felt she had reached some important text worth reading.

"...blah blah blah... Augment ability level… ah here we go! The Level Upper is supposedly a substance of some sort that allows you to gain Level at tremendous speed. Imagine being a Level 1 who just can't get further, and discovering this substance. The possibilities are endless! No more of the super powerful Level 5's, people can finally be equal!" she finished. There was more to the article but she didn't go over it as she knew Sans could do it on his own time if he were really interested.

"So.. how hard do you think it is to get a Level Upper?"

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

The building looked amazing, at least ten floors high and home to the city's biggest shopping lineup. Shirai and Saten couldn't have been more excited to enter for… differing reasons. Shirai wanted nothing more than to dress up her dear sissy, Misaka, in the cutest clothing she could find and Saten was nothing but excited to get Uiharu new panties that she could show off in public. Speaking of that…

"AAHHH!" Uiharu yelled as Saten flipped up the girl's skirt. Misaka and Shirai started laughing at the poor girl's luck. "Miss Saten how many times have I told you not to flip my skirt up!" she snapped at Saten, her face as red as one of the roses that adorned the top of her head. Pedestrians on the street looked over at the quad in curiosity.

"Sorry, sorry. Just thought everyone deserved to see those beautiful black panties you've got on!" she giggled, causing the innocent short haired girl to redden. To which if it was anger or blushing was anyones guess though. Starting their walk through the extravagant entrance to the shopping mall, they began their shopping spree.

The four browsed around the store in search of whatever was on sale. Be it night gowns, a cute dress, or even a new bed sheet. Of course they weren't buying all of this, but it was always fun to have a look around to see what was trending and what looked cute. Mikasa and Kuroko would be at odds on if kids clothing was appropriate for pajamas for a bit, but even Kuroko couldn't convince her otherwise once she saw a set with Gekota's on it.

Uiharu and Saten happily played with the scarves and headwear in the department over. It wasn't anything fancy, but it made the girls laugh and have a good time.

After about two hours of shopping the quad left the store with bags in hand and giggling like buffoons. The center of their laughter? The bag that held the Gekota pajamas. "Oh my goodness Miss Misaka, I didn't know you could even fit this size!" Uiharu said without thinking. The others laughed at the angry and flustered Level 5 who seemed determined her purchase was correct.

The quad made their way down the street, all with knowledge of their destination. They were on their way to the Cafe` where they had all decided to meet. They had asked Sans if he wanted to go shopping, but he declined saying he wanted to sleep. In apology he said he would meet up with everyone at the Cafe` at 5. It was already 4:50 now. However, it was as they were walking that Kuroko brought up an interesting topic...

"Hey, you think Sans likes any of us?" Shirai hinted, poking at each of the girls with her suggesting eyes. Saten was the first to reply as she sheepishly rubbed the back of her head, "Umm.. N-no I don't think he likes any of us. Not like-like us anyways. I-I mean he's pretty cool and all, but he doesn't seem to be the type to be romantically interested in someone else.."

Misaka shook her head in agreement, stopping at the crosswalk for the cars to pass. She hit the crosswalk button and awaited the pedestrian light to come to life. "Ari- I mean Sans, may not look like the best guy in the world, but he's actually really nice if you get to know him. It's kind of sad he always has that distant look in his eyes, he looks like a lost puppy…"

"Sounds like someone's got a crush on Sannnnnssss!" Saten hinted, playfully nudging the electromaster with her elbow. If only Saten could have seen the face of Shirai at the comment of someone dating her sissy. Especially someone as lazy as Sans. The idea only went downhill from there.

Shirai began to imagine a Sans-esk version of Misaka. Sleeping all day, always fully clothed and really pale. She shuddered, "No sissy couldn't like Sans! He's too lazy for her type. She's into another boy anyways…" she smiled, latching onto her sissy's arm in a lovey-dovey state. It was a miracle that no one heard her ramble either.

Misaka elbowed her away in defiance, "I can talk for myself thank you, and no I don't like either of them!" she clarified, walking out into the street as the crosswalk light turned green. Saten smiled with vigor as she was able to tell without a doubt who was going after Ariel, and luckily it was none of them.

"Yay, we're here!" Uiharu exclaimed as they arrived in front of the cafe` they visited so often. Going inside the aroma of cookies and coffee filled the room, and a lofty chatter of various voices wafted through the room. The four scanned the room for the pale boy with the blue hoodie, but found nothing.

"Where's Sans? He's never late to one of these meet ups we have. Even if he was really far away he always manages to make it here before us…" Shirai stated, glancing around once more to see if she had missed him.

Nope. The silver haired boy was nowhere to be found. The four chose a booth near the door and sat down, ordering their respective drinks and foods before addressing the absence of their newest friend.

Time went by and conversations were held, but there was still the nagging absence of their friend that bothered them. He was never late. After all the food was gone, it was Misaka who spoke

"Did anyone else see him today?" Misaka asked, acknowledging the elephant in the room. Shirai shook her head, her pigtails acting like a pendulum as the bounced off of her shoulders. "I got him up this morning, but that was about it. He seemed normal to me, if that's what you were about to ask.

Saten held a focused look on her face as she heard Shirai say that. "Actually, now that I think of it… today we were doing our homework at my Uiharu's place, and he fell asleep. That's normal enough, but when he woke up he looked… scared. Almost like he had seen a ghost.."

Shirai rubbed her forehead, "Did he say anything after that? It might have just been a bad dream. For all we know he went back to sleep and f-"

"He asked me if I knew any Urban Myths... that was the first thing he told me.. I-I think at least." she cut Shirai off as she said that. That piece of information must have been pretty important as Uiharu and Shirai immediately looked at each other with concern, "Was it perhaps over something called a 'Level Upper?'" she asked.

The raven haired girl stroked her chin in thought before the memory came back to her. "Yeah.. he did. We ended up on the article about a substance that could change your level.. The Level Upper."

"Worried or scared… Level Upper research.. Now he's missing…" Shirai jumped from her seat and slammed her palms down to the table, "Sans might be in trouble! What if he was trying to get his hands on the Level Upper because he was scared of someone? Or-or something was going to attack him?! Judgement has been looking into this Level Upper thing for a while, what if he's after it?"

Misaka stood up and looked her roommate in the eyes to ensure this wasn't a joke. As the two held their gaze it began to set in that Sans might be in danger. The four girls looked at each other and bolted out of the cafe` with an equal understanding of what to do.

They needed to find Sans.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXx**_

The quad had split up and begun looking around different areas that he was commonly seen. The arcade, the furniture store, the playground, and the flower garden. All were dead ends. Shirai held her phone in her right hand as she gasped for air after running around for him so much. "He- *huff huff* isn't.. here either *cough*. Try checking.. His apartment." she managed to spit out to Saten.

On the other side of the phone Saten nodded as she told the taxi driver to pull over. The phone call ended as money was exchanged to pay for the fair, and Saten was mere moments away from the address Shirai had given. Were they blowing this situation out of proportion? I mean sure it seems that the Level Upper was dangerous to obtain, but just because Sans was weak and a level 0 doesn't mean he couldn't handle himself.

Right?

When it came to things like this, where a friends life may or may not be on the line, everyone was proactive. Even if the situation seemed kind of silly in hindsight.

She walked into the lobby of the apartment building and looked around. White and grey wall patterns adorned the walls and tile walkways set down the path for her to walk on. Walking over to the receptionist desk she was greeted with a happy face, "Hello and welcome to Sweet Suites! How may I help you?" the woman asked.

Saten pulled out the piece of paper she had hastily written the room number on from her pocket, and tried to decypher it from the wrinkled paper to the lady. "I need to visit room… 404? A friend of mine is there and I wanted to make sure he was here."

The lady looked down at her computer monitor and scrolled to the number 404. "Yes.. he should be here. Feel free to go on up, it's a government payed room though so don't expect to spend the night miss." she added, vaguely hinting at the possibility of a relationship between the two.

"Oh! No no no, we're just friends, but thank you!" She exclaimed, walking backwards towards the elevator. As she entered the small metal box and entered the number 4 and waited for it to release the satisfying 'DING' noise it always did when it hit the desired floor.

Walking out she scanned the plaques of room numbers beside each door. ' _Room 408.. 406.. 407… 404!"_ She reached for the door handle, but hesitated to open it. Was she prepared for what was on the other side of this door? There could be anything in there. Blood from a gang encounter, a dead body, or best case scenario a sleeping Sans. That's when she heard it. The sobbing on the other side of the door.

Nodding to herself with confidence she opened the door and entered the room to see Sans lying on the floor. Tears streaming from his eyes. She only heard one thing come out of his mouth.

"I can't escape the loop."

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

The hall was trashed. No window was left unbroken, and no pillar was left un pillaged. This hall was the resting place for his dreams, and the determination of others.

"I know you didn't answer me before, but... somewhere in there. I can feel it. There's a glimmer of a good person inside of you. The memory of someone who once wanted to do the right thing." Sans added, trying to look as friendly as possible to the little hell-spawn in front of him, "Someone who, in another time, might have even been... a friend? C'mon, buddy. Do you remember me? Please, if you're listening... let's forget all of this, ok? Just lay down your weapon, and... well, my job will be a lot easier."

Sans opened his arms wide, almost to look as if he were embracing a hug to the child. The child stepped closer, knife dropped at their side. They held their head down, perhaps they were remorseful after all? Maybe there was a chance to reset the timeline?

Suddenly the knife fell from Frisk's hand, and tears began to pour from their eyes. Using the cuff of their sleeve to wipe away their tears, they ran towards Sans in a big hug. He knelt down and hugged the child back, rubbing the back of their dust stained shirt. "... you're sparing me? finally. buddy. pal. I know how hard it must be... to make that choice. to go back on everything you've worked up to. I want you to know... I won't let it go to waste. ... c'mere, pal."

And as Frisk clung to Sans tighter than ever, he sent a bone straight through their skull. The bone came from below, puncturing through their pants and exiting out of their head. Blood began to pour profusely out of the child's skull as the look of shock and betrayal filled their eyes. Sans just kept his kneel, Child still wrapped in his embrace.

"If we're really friends… you won't come back." he finished, watching as the little red soul shattered in his arms, leaving the clothing and inventory of the child behind.

This feeling, the feeling of revenge. That in their darkest hour he could betray them when they thought him to be an ally… He lavished it. Revenge for killing every. Single. Monster in the Underground. "Geeeettt Dunked Onnnnnnnn!" he told himself triumphantly as he waited for the world line to break down again under a new reset as he remembered it did.

But it didn't.

In all of his fights with Chara he had never.. They had never not reset after getting dunked on. They came back with an angry vengeance. Whose Sans was that? What exa...ct..ly…

It all made sense. These memories weren't even his own. Sure they may have happened to him, but not every detail may have been the same. Different spare times, different fighting styles, but always the same dialogue.

And that meant it was only a matter of time until his world broke down to another reset when Chara decides it's time to fight again. All of his progress will be erased. All of his friends will forget him. It will all disappear.

It would all go to dust.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

Waking up, Sans held his head in his hands as tears began to pour from his eyes. It really was all useless. Why even fight? Why make friends? Why save people? It was all going to reset…

It was all going to disappear. This was nothing more than an interlude before the battle continued.

He slid off of the bed, still half under the covers and sobbed. "I can't escape the loop." he told himself. "No matter what I do… nothing matters."

Suddenly he felt someone wrap their arms around him in a tight, but comforting hug. "We can't afford to think like that…" she told him, still holding him tight, "Sometime I want to give up too, but then I remember all of the good times I had. Even if I die, and any memory of my existence is erased.. I will at least know that my life wasn't worthless. I enjoyed my life and that means it was worth something!" Saten almost yelled in defiance to Sans words.

Sans just sat there on the floor, the two of them both in tears at this point. Neither of them had a sure reason why the other was crying, but they didn't care. It wasn't an awkward moment for them, it was a moment for them to be friends. A moment to show weakness, even when the world says you can't.

Sans let his eyes close as the waterworks began to come to a close, his hand on Saten's back just patting, trying to comfort her in some way. "You're right Saten… I won't give up…" he said, making a vow to himself, "If anything tries to come in the way of any of our friends, we can deal with it. I can learn to enjoy.. life... again. I'll at least try."

The two sat there for almost an hour without exchanging words, the front door still open when Kuroko, Misaka, and Uiharu arrived. Sans laid asleep on the floor, while Saten had gotten up and greeted the others at the doorway, her face devoid of any hint of herself crying.

"When I got here Sans was already asleep. Poor guy was so tired that he fell asleep walking out the door!" Saten lied, making all of her friends smile as they looked at the boy lying in the floor passed out. There was no reason for the others to know of what really happened.

The quad closed the door behind them and made their way down to the lobby room, satisfied knowing there was nothing wrong. Any questions about the Level Upper could be saved for another day. The quad all walked out the front door where they waved goodbye and went their separate ways home.

If only they knew _he_ was listening.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXxXx**_

 **And that's it for this chapter! REALLY sorry for the day late upload. I went back and revised the earlier chapters which took more time than I was expecting. If you don't want to go back and read it all here's a small update log on what was changed:**

 **Added Sans Power Catalog to the end of every chapter**

 **Grammar fixes**

 **Fixed logic leaps in Sans Shortcut ability**

 **Revised chapter one to make it a bit easier to follow**

 **Added some puns**

 **Spelling fixes**

 **Removed references to the story being a One Shot**

 **As of next chapter the real story begins, as in begin ARK 1! Muahahaha! And to all of you who don't like Sans little break down in this chapter… He is broken. Imagine repeating the same day of your life for years and then suddenly you're free, but everyone you knew in that day is dead now… and you have no idea if you'll randomly return to that day again. It will break you, and for Sans he will need encouragement to get past that stage. I'm aware that this chapter also held TWO dream sequences… One for plot and the other for a break down. Expect to see more of the lab in the future.**

 **As for review updates… I do the faster Chapter updates at milestones. This one was pre decided at 60. You guys got really close, but not quite! Thank you to all the reviews though, as it got all of you a much longer chapter than I had originally planned. This chapter was going to drop the whole "Sans Breakdown" until next chapter and just elaborate on things you see in the Anime like Kuroko's discovery of the Level Upper. Hope you enjoyed this version more!**

 ** _All of the website article authors are anagrams. Can you find all the names? (EDIT: Fanfiction doesn't allow spacing stuff. I had it all perfectly spaced, but even after trying to fix it in the Doc editor on this website it was like: Nah. Sorry for the unevenness of the "website"!)_**

 **As always, thank you to all of you who reviewed and PM'd me. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions you'd rather not leave in a review. I usually respond within 24 hours. Thank you all for reading and have a nice day!**

 _ **Catalog of Discovered Abilities:**_

 _ **Judgement (Passive): The ability to read a person's LOVE and EXP.**_

 _ **Judgement Eye (Ability): By focusing on a person's mind the user can see shards of a person's past. Not enough to know their past, but useful when needing small bits of information or threatening. You can tell when this skill is used when the user's speech seems to… lower. That's typically the case.**_

 _ **Shadow Eye (Ability): They say the eyes are the window to the SOUL. The user knows differently, as they can make theirs disappear on command. No side effects or physical effects, good for threatening. DeveLopeD bY**_ _ **ERRoR/?**_

 _ **Shortcut (Ability): Sans is able to teleport up to 500 Miles away if the known X and Y coordinates are present. However, without a picture of the location he cannot choose the altitude of his teleport. Without a picture he will ALWAYS land upon the highest land mass he can physically enter. (Ex. Rooftop) MUST be created in a shadow.**_


	5. LOVE of Music

**Insert Title Phrase Here**

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXxX**_

Chapter 5: LOVE of Music

It had become a general rule at this point, as fundamental as Flowey's 'Kill or be killed' mentality. As fundamental as learning the Alphabet. As fundamental as eating and drinking.

The Law of Power.

It seemed that everyone on the surface followed the Law of Power. The law simply states that those who are strong will seek out the weak (To protect or destroy is their choice however), and the weak will seek out power until they are considered strong. Of course, there were a few cases where this didn't fit in. An example would be the thinker of these thoughts himself, Sans, but ' _Theorem of Law and Power_ ' just wasn't as catchy so he just called it a Law.

Being an ex-scientist himself, Sans found it a fun pass time to sit around and observe the common rules we take for granted like that. A better example might be how you are supposed to stick to the right side of the street, or only enter a store if you're somewhat interested in their merchandise unless you need to use the bathroom. Observing these rules amused him. In fact, that's exactly what the ex-skeleton was doing now. Sitting outside, on a bench, looking at the natural laws of the overworld society.

To be honest though, it was a boring day and nothing extraordinary was happening. That's why he was really out here. School was out since it was saturday, no events were happening, and his group of friends were occupied with their jobs in Judgement or out shopping/browsing the mall.

' _Judgement…'_ Sans thought to himself. He had considered joining up with the group of Government Do-gooders, but there was only one problem. To be in Judgement it required Sans to pass the physical test.. Which was easier said than done. After all these years of napping it was no secret running, or exercise in general for that matter, was no longer his forte.

"Mind scooting over?" a young lady asked him, as he was currently spread all over the bench with lazy greed. Sans nodded at her as he left his thoughts per usual, but was sure to take a good look at her while he could. She had dark brown hair that came about to her chest, and it was all flowing down her shoulders and cascading down her back. She wore a crystalline white skirt that came to her knees and matching a white and purple uniform to complete attire. She was most likely going or returning from a conference.

He considered striking up a conversation with her since nothing else was going on, and Sans knew he could use some practice on some jokes he was working on, but that idea went out the window as she pulled out a music player complete with an over-the-head headset. The player looked out of place to say the least, an ancient piece of tech like that in a city like this? Why not use the new slim phone like everyone else? Sans shrugged, it's not like it really mattered.

' _Wish I had some music right about now…'_ Sans whispered to himself as he continued to eye the device, thinking back to his Trombone times. He had become a master at it back then, and the fact that it annoyed Papyrus in that adorable way made it all the better. Perhaps it was time he picked up a good pass time like that again? Eh, that'd take too much of his time. Perhaps something simp-

His head turned towards the girl so fast onlookers could have sworn he had whiplash. A heat had begun to emit from her, but not a temperature kind. The warning kind he had come to hate.

Everything seemed to get fuzzy around the edges of his vision as he watched in utter shock. He watched with his eye in horror as the girl's LOVE began to grow at tremendous speed. At first seeming to double, but then growing exponentially. Sans could almost feel the resentment bubble up to the surface of her skin as it grew more… but what could cause such a thing?

Flashbacks came in as he remembered his time with Frisk, watching as their LOVE grew and grew in the same way. As they tore apart the world he had become so acquainted with. The same world where everyone died. Everyone died. Everyone dies...

Sans reached out and tore the headset off of the woman's head, doing so with such speed she had no time to react until they were in his hands. Clenching hard to the plastic headset, he pondered breaking it right there. But he was always a clear headed being, so instead he let his eyes fade away into the void as they were replaced with the darkness that struck fear into the hearts of onlookers.

"mind explaining?" he asked calmly and collected. His sockets staring deep into her very SOUL. Instead of replying, the girl bolted from her spot and sprinted away down the street to escape. Sans did not bother chasing her, as he didn't want a fight. All he wanted was to find out what the hell was on this device that could accomplish such a feat.

Following the cord from the headset to the music player, he reached down to the ground where it had fallen and gazed at the screen. The song was still playing.

 _Artist: Unknown_

 _Song:_ _Level Upper_

' _Level Upper huh?'_ he thought to himself, sliding the device into his hoodie pocket. Perhaps it was time that he looked into the issue himself…

 _ **XxXxXxXxXx**_

Sans sat at home now, twiddling his thumbs with the music player he had obtained. The one with the Level Upper being the only song downloaded to it. The device made no sense, why would a song be able to raise your LOVE? How could sound waves produce a sensation like EXP? Something wasn't fitting, and he needed to find out what it was.

Recap. He had a song that could raise your LOVE at will. From the bits he had heard, just a few seconds to be safe, it seemed as if it were nothing short of an ordinary song. To which case why haven't other songs had an effect on LOVE and EXP? Perhaps it operated similar to the Determination machine Gaster made? No, that couldn't be true. If that was it then he would have already felt someone with the reset power… or worse. And then there was also the whole detail of it only being a song again.

What was he missing? There had to be some detail he was missing, and it seemed the only way to find out for sure was to listen to the sound file himself…

Nah.

Raising his own LOVE would do nothing, or even worse interfere with his own augments. His best course of action was the follow the only lead he had. The memory he saw when judging the girl.

The memory itself wasn't too complicated. It consisted of her and three men in a cluttered and dusty room. She had given… favors... to the men, and in exchange they had given her the music player. She had come to the men for the device, he could tell that much from the way she looked longingly at it when they laid it in her palm.

This device was her escape route, her way to escape being weak and become the strong. That had to be the reason she wanted it so bad. If it were being sold under the impression it could make one powerful it would make sense. If only she knew the cost of power was her own humanity. In theory she would lose her humanity that is, as the only proof he had was what happened to Frisk when their LOVE grew. To be honest, it was the only time he had seen a human gain that much LOVE before.

However, now he had the device and she didn't. That's all that mattered. All that was left now was to find the seller of these things and take them down, and that's where the first problem came into play. He had no coordinates to play off of, and the only hint he had of their whereabouts was the memory that didn't even belong to him.

There was one other option he had… his short distance teleport, but it was risky. He had no idea where he would end up and, contrary to the name, he had no idea how far it would send him. There was a very likely chance he could end up very tired depending on how far out the teleport was, but it was also his only lead.

Nodding to himself as he made his choice, he began his walk over into the shadows of the room so he could be whisked away into the Ether to be teleported. However, before he could make it there, a knock could be heard from the front door.

"Sans! You in there? Sans it's Saten!" he heard calling from the front door. Sighing, he put on one of his signature smiles that his his emotions and made his way to the door. Opening the wooden frame, he was met with four smiling faces. All four of the girls were there.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY SANS!" they called in unison, a boxed cake protruding from their midst. Sans reached back and scratched his head awkwardly as his smile was replaced with a genuine one.

"Aww.. thanks guys you shouldn't have. Come on in…" he offered, opening the door wide to let the four teens enter his apartment. It was only as they walked in did he notice the balloons and the couple in black walking down the hallway.

' _Must be the neighbors'_ he thought, and he shut the door behind the girls after they brought in the assortment of multi-colored balloons.

"You look surprised, did you forget your own birthday?" Uiharu asked, nudging at him with her shoulder. Sans shoved his hands into his pockets before he answered. "I guess you could say that. Where I come from we didn't make birthdays that big of a deal. Gotta say though, you guys must be full of _Hot Air_ to get me this many balloons."

Saten let out into laughter and Misaka couldn't help but smile. This mood Sans was in.. they liked it, and they had all intentions of keeping it that way. Kuroko proved to be the embodiment of this attitude as she pulled out a Party Popper and fired it, sending a small amount of confetti into the space front of her. "Let's get this party started!"

The party of five moved into the bedroom, the largest room in the two-room apartment, and fired up the music. Everyone started having a good time. Shirai was cuddled up with her Sissy, resulting in a controlled shock to get her away. Uiharu and Saten were downing Soda's like nobody's business. Even Sans found himself enjoying the moment as he _popped_ the occasional pun.

Sans had to admit, it had been a long time since he had felt any kind of happiness like this since the death of…. _him_. The death of the doctor. His mind began to wonder back into that hole it went into whenever he thought about Gaster, but Misaka shaking his shoulder pulled him back to reality.

"Looked like you were phasing out there. You know where the bathroom's at?" she asked politely. Sans stood up from his seat and beckoned for her to follow. "Follow me, I'll show you where it's at." he told her, opening the front door to the apartment. Misaka put her can of soda down and walked out of the apartment, Sans closing the door behind them as they left. The two began walking down the hallway together on their journey for the building's bathroom.

"Having a good time in there?" Sans asked, looking over his shoulder to the electromaster following him. The girl nodded her head with a smile. "Yeah, it was Saten's idea to throw you a surprise birthday party. She thought you could use something... a little different since you turned down the offer to go to the park to celebrate."

Oh yeah, Sans had forgot he had done that. Oh well, all's well that ends well. "It's a welcome change. I don't really get to party much. It used to just be me and my brother back at home." he explained, turning the corner only to be walking down yet another hallway of doors.

"You had a brother?" She asked with a curious face about her. Her walking speed had also increased and was almost side by side with Ariel now.

"I did. He was a real nice dude. Always concerned with others, and only wanted to make a difference. I still remember his smile, it refused to waver in any case of danger. That's just the kind of person he was." Sans explained to his electric friend. Misaka pondered this as she walked. If he was here, and his brother wasn't…

"Where did your brother go?" she decided to ask, hoping this wasn't striking a sour chord that could ruin his good mood. In fact, she immediately regretted saying it as surely it would ruin the atmosphere. Sans actions only fortified her worries.

He stopped walking altogether and his gaze met the ground, "He's dead. He's been dead for a long time." he answered in a dead serious tone, one she had never heard come from him before. Misaka just kind of stood there without a sure indication on what she should say to diffuse the situation, "I'm.. uh.. Sorry…"

Suddenly Sans turned back to her with a big grin on his face, "Kidding, if you couldn't tell. My bro got a.. _stay at home job._ Last thing I asked him before I left was if he wanted anything. Made you feel awkward though huh?" he explained, relying on the other Sans-es memories to give him a truthful answer. The two began walking in silence as the mood became one of awkward silence. It was alright though, the steps weren't usually a talking point anyways.

Down the steps they went, all the way down to the first floor in silence. It wasn't until they hit the first floor that Misaka was able to hear the deep panting coming from Sans. Was he really _that_ lazy? She considered scolding him about it, but her bladder said otherwise.

"Bathroom.. Is that way…" he said in between breaths, genuinely tired. Misaka walked away in shame of her unhealthy friend but was able to use the bathroom nonetheless.

After a moment of waiting, Sans watched as she exited the bathroom, her hands still damp from washing her hands. As she exited he flashed her a big grin and turned to head back up the carpeted stairs. It would take him longer to get up those steps anyways.

As Misaka came in pursuit, she rubbed her damp hands on her skirt. Static electricity sparked off her hands and around her finger tips. Maybe she shou-

"Sorry!" she called out as she walked face first into Sans back, as she wasn't paying attention. The pale boy fell down on his butt, but seemed unharmed for the most part. Misaka held her hand out to Ariel in an offer to help him up.

He took it, his hand grasping hers. His eyes wide in shock as the electric shock entered his arm and his world went black.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXx**_

Misaka held her head with one hand as she opened her eyes. Everything felt weird, it was cold and wet. Letting the world come into focus, she realized she was in the snow.

"Huh?" she asked herself, holding her hand up to her face and realizing how surreal it seemed/ In fact, everything felt real, but where was she? The last thing she remembered doing was touching... Sans..., could it be possible she started an electric current with him? If that was the case why was she able to move around?

Snapping out of her thoughts, she looked around her surroundings. Trees… Trees... Snow. If she really was inside of Sans memories.. Where was Sans? Shouldn't he be here? It was theoretically impossible to exist in an area he didn't dream up. Glancing around she looked for any hints to his whereabouts. That's when she saw the footprints.

Following the trail of what seemed to be slipper shoes, Misaka could faintly see lights off in the distance of the freezing cavern. Maybe a city? It had to hold some life right? Even if Sans wasn't there it was something to get her out of this dreaded cold. Seriously, she was glad she wore shorts under her school uniform.

Moving closer to the lights, they were only a few yards away now, she was able to see a big wooden sign welcoming her as she crossed her arms and shivered. She read it aloud.

" _WELCOME TO SNOWDIN_."

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxX**_

 **Sorry for the short chapter. Due to the reviews, the next update will be Wednesday. The next milestone for a faster update will be 90. Why the big number? The next chapter is pretty big that's why. :)**

 ****Some of you have already played "it" already. Most of you haven't. There's a chance for you to alter the story to your favor, PM me if you're interested.****

 **As for Misaka shocking Sans to see his memories? We've seen this when she connects with the Doctor and learns of her past. Why can Misaka move around in Sans memories? Well he isn't totally human now is he?**

 **Review shoutouts next chapter. If you guys and gals can somehow manage to hit 90 Reviews before the post on Wednesday… I'll upload again on Friday before the usual upload on Sunday. Speaking of which, I'll be completing all of my Sunday uploads on Saturday. This means that it will be uploaded Mid-day Sunday as compared to 2:00 AM Monday morning.**

 **Thank you all for reading, and have a nice day!**

 _ **Catalog of Discovered Abilities:**_

 _ **Judgement (Passive): The ability to read a person's LOVE and EXP.**_

 _ **Judgement Eye (Ability): By focusing on a person's mind the user can see shards of a person's past. Not enough to know their past, but useful when needing small bits of information or threatening. You can tell when this skill is used when the user's speech seems to… lower. That's typically the case.**_

 _ **Shadow Eye (Ability): They say the eyes are the window to the SOUL. The user knows differently, as they can make theirs disappear on command. No side effects or physical effects, good for threatening. DeveLopeD bY**_ _ **ERRoR/?**_

 _ **Shortcut (Ability): Sans is able to teleport up to 500 Miles away if the known X and Y coordinates are present. However, without a picture of the location he cannot choose the altitude of his teleport. Without a picture he will ALWAYS land upon the highest land mass he can physically enter. (Ex. Rooftop) MUST be created in a shadow.**_


	6. Dual Dreaming

**To explain, Misaka has electricity. Her electricity can form a current when two hands are placed on the same object. Imagine a wire and a battery if you're confused. Now, by connecting she is creating a new loop between her neurons and Sans neurons. How? Ask the fight with the Doctor… As this ability is COMPLETELY CANON.**

 _ **Please check the Underlined section at the bottom of the chapter! It's Important!**_

 _ **XxXxXxXxXx**_

Chapter 6: Dual Dreams

The room was elegant, at least for this part of town. It had old style architecture, yet still held that feeling of modernization that was prominent in Academy City. The windows were obviously cleaned regularly, and the lights freshly replaced. After all, standards were important when it came to this dinner.

"Check please?" the man asked, waving his hand to catch the attention of his very nervous waitress. The girl, seemingly younger in age, nodded vigorously in response and quickly made her way out of the room to obtain his check. It was obvious she didn't get this kind of treatment often. In fact they never got this treatment, but maybe that in itself needed to be explained first.

The girls out in these parts, especially the waitresses, carried a lot of respect. Harming one of them meant harming all of their customers too. This was due to all of the mercenaries and thugs becoming attached to a place where they could hide out without fear. However, today was different. Today.. Joseph was dinning.

Joseph Whitcomer. The American drug lord who had weaseled himself into the world's most technologically advanced town. However, it came at the cost of losing his entire drug empire he had made across the globe. Simple miscalculations when your CEO gets caught while you're stuck behind enemy lines. So now he was a simple dealer, dealing mostly illegal items that weren't supposed to be past the walls. His name carried no weight back then, and it wasn't until he was given a strange offer by a mysterious looking woman that Joseph would gain any reputation.

The offer was simple. Sell an item called the Level Upper. That's right. Joseph was the brains behind the sales of the legendary item. The high demand for such a thing made his name in the Black Market underworld skyrocket. He was back at the top of the food chain like he was in America, and this time he had no intentions on making the same mistake as last time. His name would be feared once again.

"I said, CHECK." he yelled, slamming his glass of wine down onto the elegant table, breaking the fragile glass into little pieces on impact. The content spilled out onto the tablecloth and stained it red. Just another issue for someone else to deal with.

He watched with annoyance as the young girl came running out with his ticket. He had half the mind to take the glass shards and shove them through her eye sockets until they punctured her brain for keeping him waiting, but today he was feeling merciful. Well, At least as merciful as a Mafia leader got.

Joseph took the check from the girl and gazed at it. Hefty price, but he didn't care. He wasn't the type to pay for things anyways. He crumpled it up and threw it over his shoulder, "Like I'm payin` bills. Put it on my tab sweet cheeks before I have to slit your throat and do it myself." The girl quickly nodded in response to the fear mongering leader, and practically ran out of the room to do as he wished.

Fear, he loved the smell of it. It reminded Joseph who was in power. It felt.. relaxing.

"so you're the numbskull whose _bone_ I've got to pick with…. heh heh heh." a voice called from somewhere in the room. Joseph looked around the rafters, but saw nothing. Just what the hell was he up against exactly?

He unhooked his knife from his side and began to gaze at it, giving it a few test swings as the steel glinted in the tinted sunlight. "Look bub. I've got no time for the kind like you. There's business to be done, and people to betray. So why don'tcha come on down here so I can slit your throat and I can go on about my day?"

The sound of two feet hitting the ground could be heard, but not clear enough to reveal his position yet. Well, that was until the boy in the blue hoodie came out of the shadows. To say the boy looked calm would be an understatement, "look pal. i'm no fan of knives, but i'm also not afraid to do what i have to if it means stopping you from hurting others."

Joseph grinned in response, pointing his sharp and jagged knife towards the mysterious new figure. "Hehehehe, I like your style. What's your name kid? I could use someone like you on my side. Imagine the big bucks we could make together.."

"eh.." Sans pondered, walking closer to the Godfather, "i could always use a few extra bucks, but sadly _deer meat_ is off the menu today… heh heh heh."

"Take one step closer kid, and I'll stab your eyes out. If you don't believe me there are plenty of corpses for you to check outside." the man threatened, pulling his knife closer to his face so he could lick the dull end. This guy sure had a lot of confidence in his ability to fight..

How long would it take Sans to break that confidence?

Sans eyes disappeared, leaving nothing but the darkness of his soul to fill his sockets. This had started to become a regular occurrence, but lucky for him those who saw it were too scared to talk about it. " _eye_ believe you'll have a hard time doing that.. you know cause the eye's gone?" Sans had the audacity to wink at this moment, filling his target with rage. Before Joseph could attack though, his assailant disappeared. Instantly Joseph felt vulnerable.

"look if i'm being honest. i hate violence. it _gets under my skin._ it really _boils my bones_ you could say. heh heh heh… now here's the real question…." the voice paused for a moment as a cold breeze passed through the room. " _Are you worth breaking my pacifist streak?"_

The room was dead silent, a rat scurrying under the floorboards could have been heard. Instead, the silence only served as a magnifier to help hear the Godfather suddenly trembling in his shoes… against a kid who hadn't even thrown a punch. Guess the tough face was gone.

"Now then.." Sans prepared to finish, "If you're smart… you won't be selling Level Uppers anymore Mr. Whitcomer. If not, well…"

Sans appeared directly behind Joseph using his short distance teleport, the only indication of his presence was the chill that the godfather had going down his spine. "yOU'rE nOT gOiNG tO lIKe wHAT hAPPEnS nExt."

Sans didn't believe he'd be having any trouble with that man again.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

 _ **Misaka's side**_

Mikasa rubbed her cold arms vigorously in some attempt to stay warm in the cold snowy landscape she had entered. To be honest, she had never seen this much snow before, and the fact that it just kept going in every direction scared her more than anything else. So when she approached the town, she had no other choice but to waltz on in or face the frozen landscape alone.

The town looked pleasant. Flowers stood tall in various flower pots, and comforting fireplaces lit up the windows of nearly every house in sight. Speaking of houses, there weren't that many actually here. Maybe 10… 20 at most. In this case though size didn't matter, she was happy just to b-

"Heya miss!" a voice called out to her, sending a jolt of surprise through her back. Weather it was a metaphorical or physical jolt was something else though. "Whatcha` doin out here? Lookin` for Sans?" it asked, coming from some direction. The more she dwelled it, the more she realized it sounded like a kids voice. A kid knowing Sans though? That's when she saw him, a small kid with orange hair standing in front of the Inn.

"Y-yeah actually." she said in an attempt to keep a low profile and look unsuprised, "Yeah actually I am. Can you tell me where to uh... find him?" she asked politely as she could, attempting to put some of her feminine charm into it but making it seem a bit creepy instead.

"Well, not exaaaaactly… He left just a minute ago to see the party they were throwing for Frisk!" the orange haired kid explained, throwing his arms into the air with excitement. This kid really seemed like an enthusiastic little ball of energy. "Sans told me to keep a look out for a woman that would come from the big ol` door out in the woods! That must be you right?" he asked happily, not waiting for a response before reaching out and grabbing her hand, pulling her farther into the town.

Misaka wasn't one for physical contact, especially from snotty little kids like this one, but she managed. Afterall he was taking her to Sans. Something kept bugging her though. It was as if her eyes were playing tricks on her. As the snotty orange haired kid walked her through town, she could have sworn she saw orange scales and white spikes on him… even if only for a split second. Was her mind playing tricks on her or not?

She didn't have much time to think it over though, as suddenly her guide was stopped at the front door of a large house. The kid had a large smile on his face, and looked at the house with joy. "Here we are! I won't keep you away from the party though since you're already late. Have a nice day Miss Toriel!" the orange haired annoyance called as he ran away from her, leaving her stranded in front of what had to be Sans house.

' _Toriel?'_ she thought to herself as she ran the name through her head to see if she could remember anyone with that name being mentioned. Nope! Nothing came to mind, maybe it was his mother? Mikasa now stood their now, still cold and now slightly more confused. Should she go inside as Toriel or wait outside and avoid invading his personal life?

...

Well, the house itself was very welcoming. It was constructed from wooden logs and had an ethereal yellow light shining from all of the windows. It felt like she was in a christmas movie. That alone was plenty enough a reason to enter right? ...right?

Misaka moved towards the door in preparation to meet whomever is inside, but she changed her mind before she could knock.. Maybe it was a better idea to peak through the window first and make sure this was the place she was looking for. Yeah, that was a good idea. Misaka then made her way to the window and peaked through the bottom corner of the glass panes.

"I guess you could say it… _took a lot of spine!"_ she heard a cheerful voice deliver the punchline from inside. It was a deep, almost accented voice that continued to throw similar jokes like this. The feeling was off a little bit, but Misaka could recognize whose voice it was.

It was Sans, but he sounded so happy.

She watched as the pale boy chugged a cup of red liquid and sat the remainder next to him on the couch. He was smiling. He was smiling a big goofy grin she had never seen on him before, at least not a genuine one like this. His eyes glistened in the crackle of the fireplace in the corner, making his eyes dazzle like a lake reflecting the sunset.

"SPAGHETTI'S DONE EVERYONE! DIG IN!" a tall, slender figure exclaimed, plopping a full pot of the pasta onto the coffee table with glee. It was at this point Misaka noticed the other figure on the couch, currently perked up and looking at the spaghetti with strange intrigue. They donned a purple and blue striped shirt and sat happily at Sans side on the sofa.

' _Maybe a sister?'_ Misaka thought to herself as she pondered reasons for the child to be on the couch. _No, they look to different. Though I'd bet money him and tall boy are brothers.'_

"Sounds like the _creepypasta's ready."_ Sans joked, letting his shoulders peak up in a shrug. His tall counterpart, most likely the brother he mentioned, clenched his fist in anger in a form of response, "STOP IT SANS YOU'LL RUIN THE MOOD WITH AN ATTITUDE LIKE THAT! WE'RE HERE TO CELEBRATE FRISK'S TRIUMPH TODAY, NOT MEDDLE WITH YOU PUNS!"

Sans eyes gained a mischievous gleam to them suddenly, a plan was forming in his head. "...Sounds like someone's _funny bone's_ broken!" he answered, causing his brother to hold his ears and retreat back to the kitchen.

"NYAAAHHHHHH! SANS!" the tall brother yelled in reply as if he were the comic relief. Misaka though didn't pay attention to it much, as she was trying to see if she remembered hearing the name Frisk before.

Sadly, she couldn't remember it. Oh well, at least she knew it was safe in there though. Feeling content with entering the place now, she turned around and stood back up… only to be met with a large figure in a black trench coat.

"You shouldn't be here." was the last thing she heard before she blacked out.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

 _ **Sans side**_

" _It's finally done Sans… It's… finally finished. Bask in it's glory.."_ a man in a lab coat called to his assistant.

Sans would have turned to the Doctor to see his reaction, but was too focused on the monstrosity of scientific knowledge in front of them. It was a large cylinder, about the size of a phone booth, that was entirely independent of all the other objects in the lab. No tubes or wires came connecting to it, which that in itself made it stand out from the numerous skull-looking machines that hung from the walls of the enclosed room.

It was finally done, after all of this time. After all he, no, _they_ had done… the ending they so desperately craved was mere moments away. Their fate was in their hands once again, and no longer would anyone feel this pain anymore.

A machine that could change the decisions one made. A machine where one could effectively… be free for the first time. All the wrongs they had done that chained them to the ground, all of the suffering that clouded their judgement at the end… could disappear.

" _Three years we've been working on this Sans. You and me. With this machine, I can finally finish that vision I had so many years ago. No longer must I worry how to fix this place through hoops and binds. Alas, the end is here."_ the Lab-coated man monologued as he gazed as his clenched fist, the hole in his hands not at all bothered by the fingers intruding them.

Sans gaze drifted from the machine towards the Doctor. After all of these years, all of the _hell_ that monster had put him through, in the end they stood closer than ever. Like a father and a son.

" _Sans…"_ he started, " _I never told you my name. At least not my full name... Ahem. You were always the smarter out of the two of you, so can you tell me what kinds of Skeletons there are?"_ the Doctor asked, his vision resting on the young Sans. He watched with interest as the boy shoved his fists deep into his white lab coat, the fluorescent lights that were indentured into the ceiling giving it an abnormal sheen.

"Well… there's lowercase and uppercase right? When a skeleton enters the world, there are always in pairs of two. The duo is bound to be one uppercase and one lowercase. If one dies, the other is alerted to their counterparts death." Sans explained, his voice almost answering in a questioning tone. After all, the Doctor had to have already knew this…

" _Right. You were the lowercase. We've been over this before so I won't dwell, but what if a skeleton were to perhaps… be born_ _ **without**_ _a counterpart?"_ the Doctor questioned, watching intensely to see if the younger skeleton could catch his hint.

Sans grinned and performed his shrug, a move he was hoping to coin as 'his thing' in years to come after he left this dreaded lab. "I dunno, maybe if I wasn't talking to one I'd be more willing to give an honest answer." Sans said, still grinning. The Doctor looked at the boy with surprise, how did he put it together that quickly?

Sighing, the doctor broke his gaze and walked towards the cylinder. Sliding the glass door on the front of the machine open, he stepped in. As he entered he looked at Sans, hit a few buttons, then let his stature relax as the machine came to life.

Complex whirrs of lasers and complex machinery began to fire up into existence, and the Doctor couldn't have looked calmer. Lights of green, blue, red, orange, and various other colors began to light up and flash. " _Remember my name Sans, and remember it well. It may serve you in another life… if I c-"_

But the fans kicked in and drowned his voice out, the movement of his jaw being the only reminder he was talking. Sans dared to venture closer to hear the voice again.

" _..ill happen again, and again, and again. Remember my name Sans… Remember my name.."_ the doctor finished, leaving Sans confused. He still had no idea what the man's name was, and he'd been asking for three years now. A bright light encased the inside of the machine and Sans began to black out as the magic output let out a shockwave, but he did hear one last thing.. A voice riding on the wind of the last ebbs of his consciousness.

" _ **r."**_

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxX**_

Ariel and Misaka both awoke at the same time with a jolt, new memories flooding through their heads at the same time. How long were they out for? How long had they been dreaming?

Sans was the first to come around to his surroundings, looking about the room with curiosity. He was back in his apartment, and the faces of Saten, Kuroko, and Uiharu looked on with worry, "Mister Ariel!" Uiharu called, pulling the wet towel off of his head. Saten did the same for the electromaster who sat on the recliner, who was looking just as dazed as him.

Misaka sat up and looked at the boy who sat across from her on the couch _. 'What was that place? Was he able to tell she was in his head? ..why wasn't he happy anymore?'_ All of these questions ran through her head as her friends asked about her wellbeing.

Sans, however continued to dwell on the memories he had lost long ago. ' _Gaster…'_ he thought. That's where that name had come from. If only he could remember more…

"Are you alright?" Saten asked him, bending over a bit as if she were talking to a child. Sans only closed his eyes in response.

"Yeah. I'll be fine. Just need some time to uh… get rid of this headache is all." he lied to her, hoping his excuse would result in a lack of further questioning. Lucky for him, it did. Saten nodded at him and went over with the others to check on Misaka.

"Oh Sissy! I was so worried about you!" Kuroko said whilst rubbing herself all over her sissy arm. If it weren't for Misaka's dazed state, she would have already zapped her away. Shirai was able to continue though, "When we found you attached to Sans on the stairwell, we thought we would never get you unattached!" Shirai cooed to her roommate, causing Misaka to raise an eyebrow and break her trance.

"What do you mean… we were attached?" she asked

Kuroko pointed to Sans, "We found you with him when we thought you two were gone for an awful long time. Your arms were out and your hands in contact with his shoulders. Every time we tried to pry you two apart we got a shock, so we just waited for you to d-"

"Got it. I… I don't know what happened. I kinda passed out when I tried to get his attention before we went back up the stairs." she lied, giving Shirai the look that said they'd talk about it later. Shirai nodded in response, and it seems Sans had missed the transaction.

Within the next few minutes the girls grabbed their items and leftover cake, and then promptly left the building after being sure Sans would be alright alone. They apologized for the party getting stopped early as well, but Sans insisted he had a good time. However after they left it was obvious Sans was distressed and was not having a good time.

Sitting on the floor in front of his bed, his hands met his face, and tears ran down his cheeks. He was having the dream again every time he closed his eyes. No, not the dream of Gaster, but the one with Chara.

Deep inside though he wasn't too worried about sleep, as it wasn't the first time he had cried himself to sleep. He could remember that much, it was one of the few details he could recall in his time with Doctor Gaster.

Breathing deeply, he let out his last sob and entered a peaceful sleep right there on the floor. Just like old times.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxX**_

 **Another short one I know, but the next sequence was the longer part. The edition that would have made this chapter very long.. I decided to make its own chapter to avoid a monstrous chapter in itself, as the scene went on much longer than I had anticipated. To give you an idea of the length… I make these chapters on Google Docs, and they are usually 7-12 Pages long. With that segment in it was 24 pages long. That's why that section has been removed to be shown at a later time when I feel it would not only fit better, but also give better flow.**

 ***This chapter might be edited to fix some errors I may have missed. Writing this pretty late. Apologies.**

 **As for the Friday update, I didn't specify that the reviews could or couldn't be from the same viewer posting rapidly over the same course. I'm fine if you found the story on Chapter 1 and review every new chapter I post, but having 5 chapters already and then reviewing each one is kinda cheap on the scale. Nonetheless however, you have reached 90 reviews before this was uploaded. (Does anyone even read these blocks I write down here?) Next time one person posts many reviews like that again though, I'll raise the review goal accordingly. Oh, and thanks for reviewing btw.**

 **Thank you everyone for reviewing and reading the story! I'm halting the review reward system until I can get caught up after some of the errors I encountered this week. To explain, I wrote most of this on Wednesday, but it wasn't good enough to post so I was going to finish it on Thursday… but then I didn't get home to work on it again until Friday. Gaster Games was uploaded furthering the delay of the chapter, but here it is now. Apologies! Thank you for your patience and time!**

 _ *****If you have the time: Check out the Gaster Games. Details in the Guide by BlessYourFace1477. PM me if you'd like to participate.****_

 _ **Catalog of Discovered Abilities: *UPDATED***_

 _ **Voice Distortion (Ability): Much like the Shadow Eye ability, this is a way to intimidate your opponent. It gives Sans the ability to make his voice gain an echo and produce a hollow sound. Perfect for declaring the state of the world from a hallway.**_

 _ **Judgement (Passive): The ability to read a person's LOVE and EXP.**_

 _ **Judgement Eye (Ability): By focusing on a person's mind the user can see shards of a person's past. Not enough to know their past, but useful when needing small bits of information or threatening. You can tell when this skill is used when the user's speech seems to… lower. That's typically the case.**_

 _ **Shadow Eye (Ability): They say the eyes are the window to the SOUL. The user knows differently, as they can make theirs disappear on command. No side effects or physical effects, good for threatening. DeveLopeD bY**_ _ **ERRoR/?**_ _Gaster?_

 _ **Shortcut (Ability): Sans is able to teleport up to 500 Miles away if the known X and Y coordinates are present. However, without a picture of the location he cannot choose the altitude of his teleport. Without a picture he will ALWAYS land upon the highest land mass he can physically enter. (Ex. Rooftop) MUST be created in a shadow.**_


	7. Distrust and Theft

**Review system reworked, details at the end of the chapter.**

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxX**_

Chapter 7: Distrust and Theft

"So are you going to explain?" Kuroko questioned, brushing the curls out of her hair as she did every night before bed. It was one of the only times you could catch the girl without her hair up her signature pigtails.

However, Shirai's roommate was the polar opposite of her. Misaka's short hair required little to no attention, and her pajamas held multiple icons of her favorite frog in the world… Gekota. Currently the electromaster was lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling. Something she only did when she was deep in thought.

"I saw something. Something I… something I don't think I was supposed to see." Misaka explained, her thoughts drifting back to the town of Snowden. Things didn't add up about that place. It didn't show up on her searches online, and even worse the name Frisk was the name of a child who died almost a year ago. The more she thought about it, the more she realized she knew nothing about Sans.

"Like what?" Kuroko asked in a teasing voice, "Sounds to me like you may have seen something a little inappropriate on our little friend…" she finished, eyeing the electromaster with lustful eyes. She gained a large portion of amusement seeing the Level 5's face grow red hot and begin to squirm at the assumption.

"W-w-what?! I w-woul-d-d never! I s-saw.. I saw something that makes me think Sans might not actually be who he says he is…" she sputtered out, the redness fading from her face as she got out the serious idea she had been dwelling on.

Shirai put down her brush on the wardrobe and narrowed her eyes to look at the carpeted floor. Why would Sissy think of something like that? Just what exactly did she see? Kuroko looked up again, and made her choice. She picked up her chair and moved it to her Sissy's bedside. Sitting down she crossed her arms and waited.

"Well? I'm waiting?" Shirai said sarcastically, motioning to her friend to begin telling the story.

Misaka sat up and put her back up against the wall, "I.. It started when I touched him. It must have started an electric current between me and him. It caused me to see into his memories… At least that's what I think." She explained, Kuroko nodding in understanding.

"So you're telling me you saw into his memories, and you think you saw something that might happen to us?" Shirai asked with intrigue, resulting in Misaka giving a nod. She continued her story.

"I woke up in the snow, and after wandering for a bit I found a town. The town was quaint and small, but it had.. I don't know. It had this _feel_ to it. I can't describe it." At this point Misaka pulled the blanket on her bed up past her feet and began to fiddle with the material at the end of the woven fabric. "It was strange."

Kuroko rubbed her chin as if she were deep in thought, her legs crossed. She looked quite different from her normal self given her posture and her hair being down, almost making her seem like a different person overall, "Like the feeling you get when you've been somewhere and it looks familiar? Or the feeling you get when you're totally lost?"

"The first one." she replied, staring off into the distance, "After I entered this kid took me into the town and took me to Sans house. I looked inside and he was with a kid."

The Level 4 put her eyebrow up to show her peak in curiosity, "A kid? What's so special about that? He could have been babysitting.. Unless he did something weird with them…"

Misaka rapidly shook her head at the suggestion that Ariel could have harmed the child in some way, though the possibility was still there. "No no, but he did say their name. A-and I looked up the name on your laptop…"

Suddenly everything came together. Shirai had seen the page open and read it herself. The name of the child was Frisk. A kid who ventured off and went missing only to be pronounced formally dead a year later. Had they been a bit older, they may have had search parties out a bit longer. For a kid as young as that though… they had no other choice but to presume them dead.

"You think Sans had a hand in killing or even kidnapping Frisk, and the possibility that he may do the same to us." Kuroko concluded, gaining a nod from the Level 5 electromaster. Had they known more about their pale friend maybe it wouldn't have been so easy to jump to conclusions… but after they thought about it they didn't even know where he came from.

Shirai stood up and brought the chair back over to her wardrobe, sliding into the bottom where it belonged. She then shut the lid on her laptop and stored the brush she had laid aside in one of the drawers. "How about this. How about we go up to Judgement tomorrow and we look through the database to see what we know about him? All of those tests they did on him had to be for some good right?"

Misaka perked up from her somber state at hearing that. In fact it was the first time she had showed anything but deep thought today. "Really? You think they'll know anything?"

She nodded, "Mhhm, they've got stuff on everybody in Academy City, and after we get done there we can go out for dinner in our finest clothes… and eat a romantic meal out on the balcony… then when we go home you'll proclaim your lo-"

"SNAP OUT OF IT YOU PERVERT!" the electromaster yelled, delivering a shock to her roommate. Shirai snapped out of her dream, but the hearts in her eyes still stayed prominent. She was still thinking those dirty thoughts….

 _ZAAAAP!_

Another shock made a direct hit on the Level 4, yet she still stayed persistent, "Yes sissy I love you too! I've been waiting so long!" she exclaimed, still dreaming of her beloved sissy in some twisted fashion. It wasn't rare for this kind of thing to happen, in fact it occured way too often for Misaka's liking.

The back and forth went on for another moment or so before the duo began to settle down and retired for the day. They were able to forget the stresses of the day as they fell back onto their respective beds. The lights turned off and the room was silent spare the breathing of the two. In this environment it wasn't long before Shirai fell into a trance-like sleep, yet Misaka could only lay on her side and ponder the same thing than ran through her head over and over and over again.

Just who exactly was Sans?

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

Morning came a lot faster than she had anticipated. It felt like she hadn't slept more than an hour, and the only thing there was to prove her wrong was the clock and the sun peering through the window.

Throwing the blankets away from her body, she swung her feet over the side of the bed. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she stood to her full height and gazed out the window towards the see of industrialization and commercialism that was Academy City. It truly was a beautiful day outside.

The sun was just rising over the horizon and it filled the dorm with a crisp yellow light. Saten stretched her arms out and basked in the positive energy the morning always gave her.

Feeling good about today, she began searching the room for her clothes from the night prior. She was so tired from the party last night she hadn't even bothered to put her clothes into the hamper, even now she stood only clothed in her undergarments.

Bending over, she grabbed at the frilly shirt and silky skirt she had worn the night before. They had yet to obtain an odor to them, but was disappointed in herself for not dealing with them sooner. However, when she picked up her purse off of the floor a certain item fell out of the side.

It was a small music player, about the size of a pack of gum. She had found it as Sans place the night before and had taken it in hopes of discovering what music he liked. He may seem like a tough guy, but she knew if she tried enough she could break him from the shell he kept himself inside of all the time.

That's what made it so much worse when she discovered what was on it.

She had discovered the contents of the music device on the walk home back to her one person dorm. It caused confusion at first as to why the song had the same name as the enormously expensive item, but then again she knew very little about how the actual Level Upper worked.

The moment she had gotten home last night she was in such a rush to discover the contents of the music player, she tossed all of her clothes to the floor and spent over an hour researching anything she could about the Level Upper being a music file.

Surprisingly enough, even a girl who was too lazy to put on her pajamas was able to find a response given she looked deep enough into the web. It did help that she was already extremely well educated in the matter. After all, even the possibility of an item existing sent chills of excitement down her spine.

Snapping back to reality she placed the Level Upper on the bed and made her way across the room to get her clothes from one of the pull out drawers. A simple pair of jeans and a cute navy blue sleeveless shirt. Oh, and how could she forget? A cute matching blue and pink pair of panties to show off to Uiharu. Content with her selection, she made her way to the bathroom to take her morning shower.

As she entered she gently placed her clothes on the counter and shut the door behind her. The tan walls of the small room a deep contrast to the liveliness of the room she had been in. Reaching into the shower she turned the shower head on and let the water begin to heat up. While that was working, she proceeded to remove the rest of her clothes per usual.

Stepping in the water was just the right temperature, and she began to think of what she could do on her Sunday before school started back. Maybe she could go shopping? That wasn't a bad idea, they had just opened up the new section to the shopping mega mall downtown. Maybe she could see if the others wanted to go? Perhaps even Sans would go as well?

A good idea indeed! After seeing Sans so happy the day before there was a much better chance he would accept to come today. It would be the first time they had all been shopping together anyways. Now that she thought about it.. Was it ever weird for Ariel to constantly be surrounded by girls? Did he even have any guy friends?

The water cascaded down her body as she continued to search her mind, only to continuously draw blanks when it came to what she really knew about Sans. They'd been friends for a little over a month now and she couldn't tell you anything past his last name. Did she even know his Level? Level Zero right?

Ending her quick shower early, she turned the water off and stepped out carefully as to not slip. She grabbed a towel and began scrubbing away the leftover water, curious as to what kind of mischief and adventure she could get into today. Suddenly she heard her phone go off, the ringtone loud enough to hear from the bathroom.

Saten made her way out of the bathroom, towel wrapped around her body and fished around her purse for the object she was looking for. Ah, yes there it was, "Hello?" she asked, answering the phone call.

"Hey Saten, you think it's possible you could get Sans to go shopping with us this afternoon? Sissy.. Uh.. feels bad about last night." Shirai asked from the other side of the line, causing a big smile to dawn on Saten's face. This was perfect, she was wanting to ask her the same thing!

"Yeah! I'l definitely ask him! Meet up at the cafe at three?" Saten asked, looking at the clock on the opposite side of the room to make sure that was enough time.

A brief pause could be heard as Kuroko was talking to someone, most likely Misaka, before she gave her reply, "Sure sounds great. See you there!" and she hung up.

Saten let a little happy giggle escape as she practically skipped back to the bathroom to put on her clothes. After dressing she looked in the mirror to see her hair was a mess, but that could be easily fixed. Opening one of the various drawers on the cabinet she pulled out a brush and the tangled hair disappeared on contact.

Applying a little chapstick, Saten looked in the mirror and felt content with how she looked. Wait, scratch that, something felt like it was missing. She looked around for the flower she always put in her hair, only to find it on the floor where it must have fallen off. She picked it up, being careful not to knock over the trashcan, and wiped any signs of dirt off of the pristine white flower.

Gently applying the flower to her hair, she nodded to herself in approval. Today was going to be a great day!

She left the bathroom, phone in hand, was happy to see the sun still peering through her dorm window. It still shone just as beautiful. However, a sense of excitement washed over her as she glanced at the Level Upper lying on her bed. She could show it off to the oth..er..s. No she couldn't, what was she thinking? Sans had no idea she had this and he might get angry at her if he found out. She'd be keeping it to herself.

Speaking of Sans, she pulled out her cell phone and sent a text to him asking of he was interested in going to the mall. She was nothing less than ecstatic when his reply came in his signature, "yep." This eliminated any sour feeling she had over the stolen Level Upper as she began to anticipate an eventful day.

Saten grabbed her bag off of the floor and pulled it over her shoulder, smiling happy with glee. Today was going to be a great day.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

Sans sat at the cafe they had been meeting at, early as usual. His typical waiting area of choice being in the corner of the room where he wouldn't be in people's way. Normally he'd be all for making friends with people, cracking jokes and just becoming a well known dude in the community, but ever since he arrived here he couldn't help but remember Grilbys.

Grillbys… the place where any monster could go to enjoy a warm meal and a friendly game of poker. He had put so much time into getting to know everyone there, all of the different characters that wandered through on occasion. It made the fact that they were all dead hurt so much more.

It was for that reason that Sans couldn't bring himself to be the same person he was then. Not yet anyways. He needed time to get used to life outside of the loop again. He knew it wouldn't stay like this forever. After all, it wasn't his first time being thrown into a new town.

"Hello Sans!" the teen with flowers all in her hair called out to Sans, making her way towards him. Sans smiled and waited for Uiharu to take her seat on the opposite side of the table. Approaching the table, she slid into the booth and wore a puzzled face to her, "How are you always here before me? I tried to be here super early so I could see you come in, but you were already here…"

Sans shrugged, "Eh, I always get here early. It's not that far of a walk, and we're not that early anyways…" he said, motioning to the clock on the wall. The two continued the small talk, cracking a few jokes now and then as time passed. Eventually the other three could be seen walking into the cafe.

Watching the three walk towards them, Sans watched with interest. It was obvious the three had something on their minds by the look on their faces, as the usual shine wasn't as prominent on their faces. They seemed more.. serious.

As they approached, Misaka was the first to speak and justify his feelings that something was off, "Sans, we need to talk."

Sans raised an eyebrow, a new feature he was very much enjoying, "What's up?" he asked, sliding over to the window side of the booth to allow the three girls to sit down. This seemed to help the mood a little bit as all of the girls sat down.

"Why didn't you tell us you were a Level 5?" Saten said this time, giving Sans a surprise for a moment before he fell relaxed again per usual. Saten however seemed quite distressed at the new knowledge, and since Sans had already looked inside of her.. He knew exactly why she felt this way.

"Eh." he shrugged, "The lab guys react to much. All I did was show em` I could shoot a little lazer and they flipped their junk." he explained casually, making sure not to make is a big deal. The girls however went wide eyed at the information. Misaka especially.

"You shoot beams of light, Sans. Not lazers. We read over your file. They called you a Level 5 because the strength of the one you showed was on par with my own, and that's… something." Misaka told him, comparing his mysterious beam to her own famous Railgun, "How long have you been able to shoot it? How big is it?" she questioned, not wanting to be outdone by the boy.

Sans let out a chuckle, "No no, you've got it all wrong electro girl. It takes a lot of time and energy to make one appear. It took me two years to make my first one, and all it did was take the end off of a pencil." he explained to her, technically not lying. The girls either silent in anticipation or squirming with excitement over the new _electrifying_ development. Who would have guessed the lazy boy who slept all of the time was a Level 5 just like their beloved Misaka?

"No, that can't be true. They don't give Level 5 like that unless there's a good reason." Saten said before Misaka could reply to the rather calm boy. Then again, of course she would know how hard it is to level up, being unable to escape Level Zero herself. It made Sans feel bad for her.

"Kuroko knows." Sans said motioning to the Level 4, "She was there when they picked me up, they gave me Level 5 because of my esper field thingy I put out. I haven't gotten to study up on the science behind it much, but they thought I was holding back and gave me the Level 5 status. If you think I'm lying, explain why they would put me in a Level 0-2 class?" Sans defended himself, explaining his Level to the girls in hopes they would understand his situation.

Kuroko nodded at the other girls to approve his statement, but that still left one fact on the table. One that Misaka and herself had decided to keep to themselves until they thought it would be a better time to ask about it. The fact of _Frisk._

For now, it was just time to hang out at the cafe until they went to the mall. On the bright side of thing, at least for now the girls had no idea of the true power Sans held.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXxX**_

 **All underlined text will now be the most important stuff. I'll try and be short and blunt. To get faster updates, instead of reviewing milestones you can earn them in Gaster Games. More details on that story. Reviews will be... noted? Next week on the Sunday upload.**

 **Another shortish chapter. I know, but given I had to write this entire chapter in 24 hours for the Sunday upload I promised it's actually quite lengthy. Onto other things, the girls are suspicious of Sans! They have realized how little they actually know of the skeleton and have begun to question how he weaseled his way inside the group so easily. Some of you may see where I'm going with this…. But you might be wrong.**

 **Saten has her hands on the Level Upper! As for if she will use it or not.. You might not know. Introduction of the aluminum bomber in the next chapter as well, as he is one of the characters we see to use the Level Upper that tells our cast the side effects of using one…**

 **4/2 ratio is all I will say to those currently doing a Gaster Game. If that will help or mislead you is how you choose to interpret it though.**

 **Sans did not show his full ability of a Gaster Blaster to the scientists. They know he's holding back, or at least suspect it. However all physical evidence shows it takes at least 15 seconds to charge and fire a Gaster Blaster. Perhaps if he made a smaller one and put a bit more effort into it, the Gaster Blaster could be much more powerful?**

 ***This chapter will likely be edited and revised later this week. Once again, just grammar fixed nothing major.**

 **Thank you all for reading! Have a nice day!**

 _ **Catalog of Discovered Abilities: *UPDATED***_

 _ **Gaster Blaster (Ability): Summons a skull imbued with magical ability. The jaws can be seen popping apart as they prepare to discharge the magic within. Powerful enough to cut through even the thickest of steels. Point of origin unknown. Further research required.**_

 _ **Judgement (Passive): The ability to read a person's LOVE and EXP.**_

 _ **Judgement Eye (Ability): By focusing on a person's mind the user can see shards of a person's past. Not enough to know their past, but useful when needing small bits of information or threatening. You can tell when this skill is used when the user's speech seems to… lower. That's typically the case.**_

 _ **Shadow Eye (Ability): They say the eyes are the window to the SOUL. The user knows differently, as they can make theirs disappear on command. No side effects or physical effects, good for threatening. DeveLopeD bY**_ _ **ERRoR/?**_ Gaster?

 _ **Shortcut (Ability): Sans is able to teleport up to 500 Miles away if the known X and Y coordinates are present. However, without a picture of the location he cannot choose the altitude of his teleport. Without a picture he will ALWAYS land upon the highest land mass he can physically enter. (Ex. Rooftop) MUST be created in a shadow.**_

 _ **Voice Distortion (Ability): Much like the Shadow Eye ability, this is a way to intimidate your opponent. It gives Sans the ability to make his voice gain an echo and produce a hollow sound. Perfect for declaring the state of the world from a hallway.**_


	8. Insight

**I'd like to say a little something first. A reviewer asked why I demand such reviews for faster updates, and followed that with asking if I even "love writing at all?". Here's your answer, I do. However, I don't see FanFiction as a lasting endeavour and I wish to further my writing ability. By you guys Reviewing I'm getting to see what you guys enjoy and dislike, thus growing better as an author. For that reason, the regular review for faster update idea will be returning. Apologies for the chunk of text at the start of the story.**

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxX**_

Chapter 8: Insight

Darkness.

Darkness and a desk.

He could see it. A pile of papers scattered about the top of the workdesk. Each the same shade of white as the rest, yet they all seemed to be different as if each page had their own personality. It made up for the lack of other surroundings in the void he was standing in.

This dream made no sense, as it wasn't the usual one of him getting bullied again. It was always the same dream. Over and over again he'd see it. The bullies knocking him over and taking whatever money he had, judgement showing up after the incident and not even offering to pay him back or end this endless loop of torture. He had this of being bullied dream, a dream that was his reality, every single time he went to sleep. Every. Single. Time.

Yet here he was now, faced with a desk of papers and a tantalizing urge to read them. After all, what else was there to do in the blackness of an empty void?

" _Day 1: Project Zephyr has begun."_ he read off of the top of the stack, " _Any further documentations on that matter can be found in the folder about Project Zephyr, as these notes will continue to hold my private thoughts on the matter."_

He pulled the paper at the top of the stack, feeling the strangely realistic wrinkle of the old paper. It still retained its white sheen, yet it was obvious this paper was many years old. Glancing down he couldn't make out much of the next days, and was forced to venture further until he could find a day he could make out.

" _Day 7: S-1 has shown no significant growth. S-2 however… is building wonderfully. At this rate we may have a fully functional program after all. Perhaps increasing the velocity of the nanites could possibly further S-1's and S-2's development? More research required."_

He put down the page and picked up the next. This new one seemed not much younger than the last.

" _Day 8: Failure. S-1 could not take the treatment, while S-2 could. All treatments were stopped as not jeopardize further test results. On a side note, Alphys had a breakthrough on her C.D.P., Camera Development Program, today. She has come up with a beautiful idea on how to distribute the power grid throughout the Underground. I only hope she can showcase it to the king properly._

 _Day 9: C.D.P. was approved by King Asgore today. As to if the young scientist shall succeed under given stress shall be the true test of her worth as successor to Royal Scientist."_

More days could be seen, but strange markings blurred the lines. The bullied dreamer was forced to skip again.

" _Day 25: S-2 has been deactivated from the chamber. I will be examining it myself._

 _Day 26: It looks scared. I've been successful in creating a life form it seems, but I'm not convinced it's even sentient yet. I've decided to deactivate S-1 as well to compare._

 _Day 27: ….Nothing to report..."_

After the blunt ending of Day 27, nothing else could be found on the page. He moved onto the next one, this one clearly being very fresh. It couldn't have been older than a month.

" _Cycle 93: S-1 seems to be able to be able to make friends after all… He has four new friends at his doorstep to celebrate his day of creation. However, the girl known for electricity may have seen me. More research required."_

Lying the paper down, he began to reach for the next…only to find there was none. Instead, written on the desk in black scratches it said one thing:

" _ERROR: You cannot change the past."_

The message was simple enough, yet it held no meaning to him. Was the author of these notes tampering with the past, or was he just locked in reminiscence of what once was? The dreamer put the papers back over the words and looked around the desk for anything else. The drawers.

Looking down he noticed the various drawers, a total of 6 in all, that lined the desk on either side. All of them had a lock on them, and after tugging each one he came to the conclusion they were all locked. It seemed his discovery was nothing more than a red herring.

" _You cannot change the past."_ a voice called out in the darkness, and the dreamer was suddenly hit with a massive headache. A strange pain for someone in a dream.

Suddenly the headache became a migraine, and he became very dizzy. The void seemed to grow darker, darker, yet darker. It was almost as if a wave of tiredness hit him and he were beginning to pass out, likely a wave of unconsciousness. His eyes began to shut regardless of his efforts to keep them open, and eventually the blackness that covered his vision was the blackness behind his eyelids instead of the void. Other senses began to shut down as he could no longer feel the dream around him.

In fact, he had just woken up.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

Groggily waking up, Kaitabi Hatsuya rubbed his eyes and began to ponder the dream he had. What did it mean? Who was being tested upon, and who was Alphys? It was without a doubt the strangest dream he had ever had, but a welcome change to the bullies.

Letting the dream float back into his mind, putting it aside as nothing but a simple dream, Hatsuya got out of bed and began to fumble around the darkness of his apartment. He had a big day today and needed to prepare for his biggest stunt yet. Oh how spectacular it would be..

The Graviton Bomb. It was his ability after all. He was able to turn aluminum into Graviton bombs at will, and it seemed this ability was entirely useless to him… until the Level Upper came around. With the help of the music file, Hatsuya was able to bring his bombs to a new height. At his old level, he could do little more than make a soda can disappear in a mini explosion. It would make for a cool party trick, given he had any friends.

That was actually why Kaitabi was doing this. He had no friends, and no reason not to get revenge on those miserable, no good, dirty thieves who robbed him of his dignity and wallet everyday. No, they wouldn't mess with him ever again after they discovered he could blow up buildings with his new amped up ability now. Especially after he had Judgement begging for mercy under his feet.

Grinning, he quickly began putting on his shoes and sliding on a semi-fresh white button up shirt. It was D-day for his latest, most daring attempt! He was going to blow up the Seventh Mist shopping mall.

Making sure to grab the cute little Gekota plush with the large aluminum coil tucked inside, Hatsuya donned his headset and left the apartment with an evil spring in his step. It was going to be a wonderful day in the eyes of karma. It was time those privileged sacks of tainted meat in Judgement learned what fear was.

Oh yes, someone was going to _die_ today.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

Sans looked into the mirror, doing the last button on his white long sleeve button up shirt. He had to admit, he hated the amount of maintenance this school uniform had. Why couldn't they replace the buttons with something a bit easier to manage like a zipper?

Letting his thoughts fade away as he put on his signature blue hoodie on over the crisp white uniform, Sans looked into the mirror one last time to make sure he was ready to leave. Why did he choose today to make sure he looked nice? Well, even ex-skeletons had to take showers every now and then, and once he put on his clothes he had no intentions on taking them off until his next shower.

His sparkling eyes looked back at him in the mirror, and it filled him with a sense of determination. Smiling, he turned and made his way over to the front door. However, he didn't walk out of his apartment. Instead he locked the door. Why use a door and a staircase when you can teleport out of the place?

Casually Ariel walked into the corner of the room where the shadows casually rested, and felt the familiar cold embrace of the void around him as he walked into their shadowed embrace. Darkness filled his vision, only accompanied by dots of light that seemed to fly by at the speed of light. The next thing he knew… he was at his designated coordinates.

With a ripple in the shadows the only indication of his arrival, Sans stepped out into the world again. The alleyway was desolate today as the scum who usually hung in this part had found something better to do today. Good news for him at least. Sans walked out from the narrow enclosure of the alleyway shortcut and onto the sun filled streets of Academy City. It was a beautiful day outside yet again.

In his usual routine, Sans began to walk to his left, towards the cafe. This was how he always arrived early, and to be honest… he was surprised no one in his little clique had put together that he teleported here. It wasn't exactly a secret, and he knew Shirai had gotten that information in her text messages. Why'd she seem so oblivious to it?

The door to the cafe swung open as he walked in, a grin on his face as his preferred waitress gave him a smile as made his way towards the booth he always claimed, which rested in the far back corner. Even without Sans trying it seemed he was making friends around this part of town. Eh, not like it bothered Ariel too much anyways. A new friend meant he had one less enemy.

"How's it going today Mr. Ariel?" the waitress asked him as Sans made his way to his seat and sat down. After he was seated, Sans looked up and let out a little wink, "just fine. gotta ask though, what's the special today?"

The nice woman looked down at her menu she came equipped with and read it allowed, "Hmm… today is rice and teriyaki, though if I had to guess you were looking for something more along the lines of a glass of some sort of condiment?" she predicted with a smirk on her face. Apparently Sans had also acquired an infamous reputation for his ketchup habits here…

"water, actually." Sans chose, taking his waitress aback, "...as in _wat-er_ bout` a bottle of ketchup?" he joked. It was obvious Sans was in a good mood today, and his pun was actually good enough to make the blonde waitress giggle a little, even if it was accompanied with eye rolling. Still not his style of pun though. Adapting from the skeleton puns was taking a little bit.

"Is that all you want Ariel?" she asked, jotting down 'One bottle of ketchup' on her notepad. Sans was about to reply to the lady, but changed his mind when he saw a particular set of teens outside the window waving at him. They were early today..

Sliding out of the booth in the corner to which he always sat in, Sans shook his head and began his trek out of the cafe, "Sorry miss, I'll have to come back later. Looks like we're skipping the meet and chat and going straight to the hangout part. Guess I'll have to _ketchup_ with you later." he smirked as he finished, still making his way towards the front door. The lady didn't say a thing, but instead smiled and waved at the pale boy as he left.

Sans once again entered the street, having a short lived experience in the cafe today. He had no idea why Misaka and the others were so early today. Perhaps they were excited to take him shopping? It was his first time…

"Heeeey!" Saten called across the way towards Sans, a smile on her face that matched the one on Sans. He shoved his hands into his pockets as he approached the other girls, and to be honest he looked out of place. They all wore cute skirts and fashionable school uniforms, yet here Sans was in his navy blue jacket like always.

"Sup." he called back, waving back to everyone before shoving his hand back into his pocket. The five of them were all present at last, but even though they had all been friends for a while now it still seemed strange for Sans to walk with everyone. The pale boy usually prefered to go his own way home or stay behind a little longer. As to what he did afterwards… well nobody really knew.

"We got here a little early so we could get down to the Seventh Mist on time. Turns out they're closing early today and well… we figured you'd be at the cafe early anyways…" Shirai explained to him. Sans shrugged to show his care as they began their walk to the shopping mall, which wasn't too far away from their current location.

Misaka leading the pack, the crew began to chatter small talk amongst themselves. Things like: 'What was in style right now?' 'Curfew times.' and Sans favorite topic; 'Best places to take a nap.' to which he had plenty of insight to share on the matter. However, after these topics it ended in a silence that fell like a thick snow and no one was totally sure on what to say. Well… that was until Saten spoke up.

"So Sans, if you had to date anyone out of this group… who would it be?" she asked with a devilish grin pointed his way. Being the only male in the group, all of the other Females turned to him, even if just by a little bit, to see his reaction.

Instead of blushing a little bit or even showing a little bit of intimidation from the ice cold stare he was getting from Misaka… Sans performed his famous shrug and wink saying, "Eh, already got my eye on somebody." he flatly stated, causing Saten to clench her fist in frustration. How was she supposed to get an answer out of him like this?

"Right… but if you didn't?" Shirai questioned mischievously, unknowingly stepping in to save the day. A large breath escaped from Saten as they used the crosswalk to cross the street. Now Sans had no reason not to answer the question!

"Hm…" he thought, bringing his hand up to his chin to stroke it, "A nice girl, a loose cannon, and a living thermostat… I'll let you guys decide who's who." he grinned, happy with his answer. An answer like that was bound to drive them apart and in turn make them leave him alone. I mean it wasn't the first ti-

"How did you know about my ability?" Uiharu asked as she turned around directly in front of him and stopped. She had the look of anger on her face more than curiosity, "I haven't told anyone my ability. No one but Miss Saten." she told him, pointing her finger at him accusingly. Sans awkwardly scratched the back of his head, "Uhh…"

In yet another turn of events, Saten was the one to jump in and save the day, "I told him… I-I-I mean I didn't mean to, but it j-just kinda came out… I'm s-ssorry.." she confessed to her friend. Uiharu looked flushed with red anger, but seemed to quell it being the forgiving type. It was eventually going to be known by her friends anyways…

"Oh so that's your ability? Can you show it to us when we get inside?" Misaka asked as they turned to face the massive building that was Seventh Mist. It seems they had arrived at their destination. Uiharu nodded with a determined face on and walked to the front of the group. Saten however slinked over to Ariel and whispered into his ear.

"You owe me for that one." she told him just loud enough that Sans could hear her. Saten hadn't let the cat out of the bag on Uiharu's ability, and now the only ones who knew about Sans mysterious knowledge gain were the two of them. Sans nodded in understanding and watched the sliding doors of The Seventh Mist open up and welcome them to the shopping mall inside.

Great, now Sans had explaining to do.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXx**_

"Well, spill it then. How'd you know about Uiharu's ability?" Saten questioned now that they were alone. The two of them were currently split from the others, Saten claiming to have 'needed to show Sans where the men's clothes were'. Which ended up leaving them here, surrounded by men's t-shirts and jackets.

"Well, I would say I read it on a lab sheet somewhere, but I can already tell you aren't going to buy that one. Hmmm…Do you remember what they call someone who was part of experiments in a lab?" Sans questioned her, catching her attention. Her gaze fell to the floor as she began to feel uneasy. Was he really about to tell her? She was expecting more resistance…

"A Scientist?" Saten answered questioningly, not sure if that was the answer he was looking for or not. Sans stopped and fiddled with the tag on one of the jackets, seemingly deep in thought. Saten looked up at him and put her hand on his shoulder, "I want to know Sans. You know so much about us and we know nothing about you. That night I saw you crying… I didn't ask anything. I didn't tell anyone either. I won't tell them about this either."

Sans stopped fiddling with the tag and placed his hands back into his pockets, and proceed to close his eyes, "I have an ability. I can see details of people's lives if I look into their souls. I can see all of the good and the bad they've done. I can see all of the horrible things they've done, but I can only predict what they will do in the future." he answered, taking Saten aback.

He could not only shoot lasers… but also read minds? All this time she had thought they had a lot in common… yet here she was learning he had not one but two abilities. When she had seen him crying on the floor she had thought he felt weak, just like she did knowing she was a non-esper living in a city of espers. Now.. she was beginning to question that theory.

"The man who gave me that ability always told me I was weak, and he was right. I am weak, my brother was always the stronger one of the two of us. The only thing I ever had going for me was my wit." Sans explained, causing Saten to grip a little harder onto his shoulder in sympathy. It was finally making sense to her why he never told his side of the story.

The dramatic moment for the two was cut abruptly short by the vibration in Saten's pocket. Her phone was going off. Releasing Sans from her grasp, she reached into her pocket and retrieved her phone, looking at the caller ID.

Uiharu. The picture ID being one she had taken back in the flower shop three years ago. The smile on the little girls face made Saten feel warm inside.

Saten flipped open the phone, expecting the chipper tone of her friend to be on the other side… but instead she heard the cry of her friend on the other side of the line, "Miss Saten! Where are you right now?" she asked, worry prominent in her voice. Saten looked up at one of the various signs to be sure of her location.

"5th floor, w-why what's wrong?" she questioned, holding onto the phone with both hands to show her concern. Sans still stood there eyes closed in front of her, seemingly showing no reaction to the commotion coming from the person next to him.

A slight static came over the phone as the flowery girl on the other end could be heard panting, possibly running from something, or perhaps up a flight of stairs? As soon as the girl could catch her breath for a moment, she dropped the news to Saten:

"Word from Judgement says that they think the Graviton Bomber is about to make his next move here in the Seventh Mist. They're telling everyone to evacuate the building."

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXxX**_

 **A strange Sans hmm? Whatever could be the issue? This chapter had to be re-written three times before I felt good about it. Like seriously a good 8 hours went into this chapter.**

 **Eh… 135 Reviews for a thursday update? (Once again a big thanks to those of you who left reviews on the story!)**

 **I also enjoy reading you guys thoughts on the story. It's fun to see what you guys think, and to what I should fix or change. Also, I will be fixing chapters this week as well. So if you happen to see any updates.. Apologies. I'll be saving most fixes for the normal Sunday upload.**

 **Thank you all for reading… and have a nice day!**

 _ **Catalog of Discovered Abilities:**_

 _ **Gaster Blaster (Ability): Summons a skull imbued with magical ability. The jaws can be seen popping apart as they prepare to discharge the magic within. Powerful enough to cut through even the thickest of steels. Point of origin unknown. Further research required.**_

 _ **Judgement (Passive): The ability to read a person's LOVE and EXP.**_

 _ **Judgement Eye (Ability): By focusing on a person's mind the user can see shards of a person's past. Not enough to know their past, but useful when needing small bits of information or threatening. You can tell when this skill is used when the user's speech seems to… lower. That's typically the case.**_

 _ **Shadow Eye (Ability): They say the eyes are the window to the SOUL. The user knows differently, as they can make theirs disappear on command. No side effects or physical effects, good for threatening. DeveLopeD bY**_ _ **ERRoR/?**_ _ **Gaster**_

 _ **Shortcut (Ability): Sans is able to teleport up to 500 Miles away if the known X and Y coordinates are present. However, without a picture of the location he cannot choose the altitude of his teleport. Without a picture he will ALWAYS land upon the highest land mass he can physically enter. (Ex. Rooftop) MUST be created in a shadow.**_

 _ **Voice Distortion (Ability): Much like the Shadow Eye ability, this is a way to intimidate your opponent. It gives Sans the ability to make his voice gain an echo and produce a hollow sound. Perfect for declaring the state of the world from a hallway.**_


	9. An Explosive Reunion

**Holy crap I'm running late. I've only got 3 hours to write this chapter. Challenge** _ **Accepted**_ **. Edit: I failed. Power isn't out yet though Edit: Just went back up Edit: Lost two pages on the last power down. Ugh. Edit: 5th time's the charm, making this a short chapter so I can still post something.**

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXxX**_

Chapter 9: An Explosive Reunion

Kaitabi knew this building like the back of his hand. It was the only place where he had ever felt anything close to safe. In fact, that was why he had to blow it up. The emotion he had felt here.. Happiness… and the feeling of security… it was holding him back. The only way he was going to topple judgement from its high throne and expose them as the government dogs they were was to become the most powerful esper he could be, and if that meant destroying Seventh Mist so be it.

The building had a simple layout, made specifically to make shopping easy for customers. It consisted of seven floors, given its name "Seventh Mist", each holding a grid-like structure that separated the sales of goods. There were ten main sections per floor, adding up to a whopping seventy alternate shopping sections for the pleasure of those shopping in it. The place was so big he had once lost Yitsuma here once.

' _Yitsuma_ ' the name clung to the edge of his memory, inviting all of the good memories he had with his ex. She was the only thing that made his life happy, and if he had been able to stand up to those bullies… maybe she wouldn't have left him for another guy. Someone stronger than him, someone who wouldn't get beaten down by the bullies everyday on his way home. Why didn't Judgement help him?

He shook the memories away again. Those times, happy or sad, with Yitsuma were gone. They were a sign of weakness. All he could do now was kill. Kill those who dared to get anywhere in his path. Yitsuma was dead to him now, and unless he could magically reset back to the way things were… he never would love her again.

Kaitabi Hatsuya would be a name that the world feared. They would fear his name, and worship him. Those bullies would be killed on the spot. No, he would tape them up for public display and watch as they starved to death. Yes. Yes. That was what they deserved. No mercy. Genocide. Kill them, people like that have no right to live on this earth.

These thoughts dominated his mind as the teenager walked through the mall, Gekota plush in hand. No one even suspected that his Level 2 would be the one to blow up the building. His target today was one he had gotten from an anonymous tip. "Uiharu and Kuroko, two judgement members, shall be in the Seventh Mist in three days time. Prepare, let this be your moment to strike." his mysterious black-clad tipper had told him. It made no sense to Hatsuya how the shadowed man could have known, for Hatsuya had told no one of his plans.

That didn't matter right now though. His questions for the black clad man were long out of his mind. Right now he was thinking about getting his first official kills on Judgement. He would become stronger.

It was at this time, Kaitabi saw his targets. Uiharu and Kuroko. He had done research online, spending all night to understand the length of their abilities and dorm mates. Kuroko tended to hang around with the prestigious Level 5 known as Railgun. They were dorm mates. Uihari typically ran with Saten, a no name Level 0, and Ariel Gaster…. A mysterious individual whose name was the only thing he could find.

All five of the previously mentioned stood before him now, oblivious to his malicious intentions. He would just _**Love**_ to see their perky smiles turned into a blood stain on the side of the wall. Yes indeed.

Now that he had located the teens, the next step was to plant the bomb: The Gekota toy. The aluminum he had hidden inside the plushie had already begun to pick up energy required to become a graviton bomb. His power was a bit low so the charge time would take a little bit, but that didn't matter. As long as he got it into one of the teens hands… kaboom. Success.

"Excuse me mister!" a voice called to Hatsuya, feeling a tugging on the back of his pants leg. He turned around to see a small little girl excitedly looking up at him. She had a cute twinkle in her eye that showed her enthusiasm for the world. The girl couldn't have been more than nine years old… she hadn't seen what a hell hole this world was yet.

"What." Hatsuya called back to the girl, clenching the Gekota plush a little harder in annoyance. His eyes shot daggers from behind his glasses towards the little annoyance. He would have no problem in killing such ignorant snot rags like this, "What do you want?"

The girl pointed at the toy, "Is that a Gekota!? Do you like Gekota too?!" she asked full of enthusiasm, oblivious to the dangerous person in front of her. At first Kaitabi was going to denounce the girls claims and walk away with annoyance… but that was before an idea popped into his mind.

"I'm not personally, but I wanted to give this to a friend of mine." he paused, thinking through to make sure this is what he wanted to do. Nodding to himself, he held out the plush to the little girl, "Could you give this to the Tokiwadai girl over there? The one with the short hair?" he asked, barely able to hold back the devilish grin. He had to double his effort to keep the grin in once the girl took the toy. Perfect.

"Oh, but wait about five minutes okay? I want to go… buy her flowers. I really hope she'll go out with me after that." he lied to the girl, forming his false love story to further convince the girl to hand off the toy. It worked like a charm too, the girl's face lit up like a christmas tree.

The bomb handed off, he made his way out of the building. People were about to die.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

 _A few minutes later..._

"Word from Judgement says that they think the Graviton Bomber is about to make his next move here in the Seventh Mist. They're telling everyone to evacuate the building." Uiharu called over the phone. Saten looked as if she were in shock, almost dropping the phone onto the ground. Sans however, still stood still in front of her. He was oblivious to what was happening and caught deep in thought.

Shutting her phone and throwing it into her purse without care, Saten grabbed Sans by the sleeve and dragged him out of the jacket section and into the main walkway of Floor 5, "We need to get out of here Sans, there's a bomb in the building. Antiskill is evacuating the building." she informed him, inwardly debating on the best way to leave. Sans shook his head, snapping out of whatever day dream he was in and began to acknowledge the situation.

"Bomb. Got it, has word gotten to the Mall Owners yet?" he asked, and as if on cue an announcement came over the mall intercom.

" _We ask all customers and staff to leave the building. A wiring malfunction had occurred that may cause machines to stop working and sprinklers to activate. Until we can get the issue dealt with, we ask that all customers and employees evacuate the building. Again, until we can get the issue dealt with, we ask that all customers and employees evacuate the building. Thank you for your cooperation."_ the speaker's announced, people emerging from racks of clothing and changing stalls in a beeline towards the nearest exit.

Saten, still holding onto Sans, made her way over to the staircase with everyone else and began to make her way down. The moment almost had a uniting feel to it, as everyone regardless of their social status was working together to leave. Everyone from the lady with the traditional kasa hat and red kimono, to the fellow clothed in the black trench coat who almost blended in too well with the crowd to be noticed, were working in unison.

"We need to get off on the third floor. Uiharu and the others were there last." Sans told her, the door of his desire approaching quickly. Saten didn't have time to question him as they stepped out onto the grid of the third floor. Clothes were on either side of them, and the last of the people were taking their place in the stairwell. Sans looked up to see Shirai and Misaka in the middle of the floor talking to each other in a frantic manner, Uiharu next to them with her palms on her knees and panting hard.

Sans could only make out part of the conversation as he neared the others. "We think the... bomb may be somewhere.. i-in the american utensil aisle." The flower headed girl said, "There's lots of aluminum... t-t-there but we can't pinpoint where the surge is.. c-coming from exactly to tell. It could be anywhere." Uihari finished explaining to her friends, still panting from her sprint up three flights of massive stairs. Sans and Saten's jog came to a stop as they entered a circle with the others. Saten cautiously looked over her shoulder as if the building could blow up any moment.

"Why aren't we leaving exactly?" she asked, seriously wondering why they weren't already leaving the building. Misaka was the one who spoke up to answer her raven haired friend's question.

"..because there's a girl missing in the building somewhere and I'm not leaving until we find her." she stated nobly, clenching her fist in determination. Shirai met her enthusiasm with an equally stern and determined gaze upon her face and fist pump into the air, "Same here!"

Saten turned to lock eyes with Uiharu, both understanding they weren't needed here. If worse came to worse Kuroko could teleport out of there, and Misaka could… repel the aluminum? That wasn't too clear, but what was clear was that the lower levels needed to leave before any casualties happened. Bad things were happening and action needed to happen fast. The lower level duo then turned to Sans…

"Come on Sans, Misaka and Shirai have this one." Saten called to him, grabbing him by the hand to take him away. Sans showed no resistance and followed the lower levels to the stairwell without as much of a peep of retaliation. In fact he still seemed zoned out, he had barely said a word since he had talked to Saten.

What on earth was going through his head?

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxX**_

" _People can be scared of the Truth sometimes."_ the Doctor said to him, moving the pawn two spaces down to defeat Sans unguarded Knight.

Sans clenched his fist, both in the real world as he made his way down the steps and in the dream. Not moving that Knight would cost him dearly. He shouldn't have been so rash. God why was he thinking of this now? There was a bomb in the building somewhere. Somewhere in the Seventh Mist was a missing girl and a bomb, yet all he could do was run down stairs and think about a chess game he played with a dead man.

" _People are scared of what they cannot understand."_ the Doctor spoke again, his voice reverberating through Sans skull, the memory of another chess piece being removed from the board fresh on his mind.

He focused hard to get back into reality, but felt his mind slipping. Had he really felt that old man here? He couldn't have. Doctor Gaster was and will forever be dead. It will be that way regardless of the resets.

More steps, but he could vaguely put together that Saten was still holding his hand in an attempt to guide him out of the building. A shiver went down his spine as they passed the second floor.

" _How you choose to use this knowledge is up to you."_ Gaster told him, Sans moving his King backwards in fear of a checkmate. Gasters chuckle filled his mind, making it seem more like an evil laughter.

First floor, and the trio was making their way down the main aisle towards the front exit to which they had entered from. The world slowly became more clear for some odd reason, and Sans was beginning to make out the assortment of jeans and cash registers. Even so, he had to do a double take when he saw a little girl walk out into the open clutching a toy to her chest.

She looked to be about eight years old, maybe nine or ten? She had a single french braid going down her back, and a cute little bow tie to bring it all together back there. The odd thing about her was the tears streaming down her face and the odd shaped Gekota toy in her hands to which she clung to so tightly.

A toy.

He had seen the reports earlier today. Reports of the bomber hiding aluminum pieces in toys and bags so they could harm the holder, and the chances of that girl having a toy that wasn't a bomb and being the last one in the building? Unlikely. To sum all of that up, he was pretty sure this girl was holding a bomb.

"C-c-c-can you help me pwease? My Bwuther l-l-left me and I don't know where he-he went... T-t-t-hen e-everyone left, and I don't know where to g-g-go…" she sobbed, a dribble of snot hanging from her nose and causing her to sniffle it back in. The girl was the essence of innocence. Her innocent smile… endangered by the tears that had long ago formed in her eyes and cascaded down her cheeks.

And now Sans had to decide if she was a killer or not. He looked into her eyes, even perhaps her soul, and felt the world around him get brighter. His world became not one of a mall, but the abyss he had become acquainted with. An abyss of bright light. Images and names floated through his head at random. A boy with a headset. A boy with black hair. A toy was given. An intercom went off. Hatsuya. Kuroko. Uiharu. Seventh Mist. Sans was trying his best to make sense of it but the memories of Gaster kept distracting him before he could put anything useful together.

" _Power means nothing to those who have it."_ Gaster continued his monologue, forcing Sans out of his Judgement eye ability. He just couldn't focus enough to determine anything of value from the girl. What the hell was going on?

"We will help you find your brother, come with us we'll take you outside!" Uiharu told the little girl as the flower clad girl walked closer, wiping away the tears on the lost girls cheeks. The pre-teen wrapped Uiharu in a hug, her Gekota plush hanging from her tiny hands behind Uiharu's backside. That's when Sans noticed something. The eyes on the frog were strange. It was almost as if… they were… being.. sucked.. In…

As if a bolt of lightning had hit Sans, everything had become clear again. No more memories, no more motivations. Sans had one clear goal and nothing was going to stop him from meeting that goal. This was a new feeling to him. This was the feeling of **_DETERMINATION._**

The world seemed to slow down as he teleported forwards, cutting the gap of a few feet to mere centimeters in less than a second. The frog in the girl's hand began slowly eating itself alive as the aluminum inside of it became a graviton bomb. Potential energy became Kinetic energy as mass became anti-matter. Weight had no meaning, but only in a singularity and it was fighting a losing battle with the physics of the natural world.

Sans snatched the frog from the girls hand, considering taking it to the roof and hoping he could escape before the explosion hit. Well, that was right before the voice of Doctor Gaster and their chess game came to him again.

" _No one understands you Sans, and that's what makes you so dangerous. You have many skills, and the way you choose to utilize each one is what makes you special. Today you chose incorrectly, but you must be willing to live with your choices. Checkmate."_

It seemed like for once, the Doctor was talking some sense to him. The easiest way to deal with this one wasn't to teleport away, it was to hit fire with fire. Sans focused deeply, reaching into the depths of that magic pool that laid beyond his field of vision. He pulled out a large skull, and as if magic a Gaster Blaster to come to life. The toy almost gone from reality at this point however. This would need to be fast.

The jaws of the floating, massive skull opened up, Saten's eyes widening in slow recognition of the new object appearing. A sickening crack could be heard as the beast's jaw opened to its widest and a beam of shimmering white light escaped from its jaws, and directly into the toy. The Gekota plush was vaporized instantly.

Just as suddenly as the mess had begun, it stopped. The ashes of the toy hit the ground and time began to resume its natural flow. Saten, Uiharu, and the girl looked in awe of what happened, and towards the panting Sans.

Looking up from the mess of clothes he had destroyed with his laser, Sans smiled. Crisis avoided. Now if only he could get the tunnel vision out of his sight, that would be nice. Or remove the spots in his vision, or his weakening knees. Or..or.. or...

Falling over, his head meeting the ground with a ferocious 'SLAP', Sans last vision was the legs of a wooden table and a cold tile flooring. He could hear voices as well, but nothing he could make out before he blacked out.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXxX**_

 **It's really late. My power keeps going in and out. I desire sleep. You have your chapter, as I promised. This chapter will be edited tomorrow, and the rest of this section will be written as well. That includes review… reviews. Next milestone for reviews is I don't know let's say 145? I'm pretty sure we're at 129, but I'm too tired and annoyed to check right now. Have a nice night/morning everyone. Thanks for reading and have a nice day.**

 **EDIT: Alrighty, welcome back? Sorry everyone for making this a separate update, but I had just about had it with this chapter last night. Let me explain. A storm hit in the state below me, and the storms came up and knocked a bunch of power lines over to which needed to be repaired. I'm at the end of a long line of them, so I was without power for about a day. (I usually do plot development during the week and write the majority of it on Saturday) So when it came up I had already made plans to leave the house, and only had three hours to write the chapter (I failed). When I returned I got back into writing because I promise a Sunday upload, but then the power kept going out and Google Docs was glitching out so I was forced to Microsoft Word.**

 **Apologies for the big block of text, I'm writing this on the site and it's a very different format. Anyways, in the original copy of the final piece of this chapter, Gaster had an alternate speech to which I then changed to give him a more dadster feel. Some of you in the PM's and reviews pointed this out as well.**

 **I've promised two things: Chapter edits and review shoutouts. Next chapter, as this one is the one I wrote a while back, so that plus the new and it's going to be huge.**

Catalog of Discovered Abilities: *Updated*

Time Slow (S Ability): A move not to be taken lightly. It can slow, or even freeze time. However, great power comes with great responsibility. It is a MAJOR (as marked by the "S") ability, and saps immense amounts of magical energy. The more energy that is prohibited by this ability, the more magical energy sapped. Not recommended for battle, especially one with high energy weaponry.

Gaster Blaster (Ability): Summons a skull imbued with magical ability. The jaws can be seen popping apart as they prepare to discharge the magic within. Powerful enough to cut through even the thickest of steels. Point of origin unknown. Further research required.

Judgement (Passive): The ability to read a person's LOVE and EXP.

Judgement Eye (Ability): By focusing on a person's mind the user can see shards of a person's past. Not enough to know their past, but useful when needing small bits of information or threatening. You can tell when this skill is used when the user's speech seems to… lower. That's typically the case.

Shadow Eye (Ability): They say the eyes are the window to the SOUL. The user knows differently, as they can make theirs disappear on command. No side effects or physical effects, good for threatening. DeveLopeD bY ERRoR/?

Shortcut (Ability): Sans is able to teleport up to 500 Miles away if the known X and Y coordinates are present. However, without a picture of the location he cannot choose the altitude of his teleport. Without a picture he will ALWAYS land upon the highest land mass he can physically enter. (Ex. Rooftop) MUST be created in a shadow.

Voice Distortion (Ability): Much like the Shadow Eye ability, this is a way to intimidate your opponent. It gives Sans the ability to make his voice gain an echo and produce a hollow sound. Perfect for declaring the state of the world from a hallway.


	10. Bad Dreams

**This chapter will be for reviews, and Thanks for all the support! (Review Reviews at the end of the chapter!)**

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxX**_

Chapter 10: Bad Dreams

The walls shone with an orange tint, massive pillars gave structure to a room in a world that was falling apart. Glorious glass panes lined the walls, each representing the elegance that was the Royal Palace. Yet today, it was so much more than a walkway meant to shower visitors in shimmering glory, it was a warzone. A war zone that spanned only the most desperate of timelines.

Once again, it had come down to this. A time traveling demon and a skeleton who knew too much, a skeleton who had _seen_ too much. The two stood facing towards each other with the same stare they always met with after the first few unsuccessful tries at passing.

"let's just get to the point." he stated, letting his eyes dark out as they always did on this line of dialogue. His hands sat inside his pockets, clenched in a calm rage. Not a single bone in his body signified fear or hatred, the only clue of his anger was how dark his smile had turned. It had a sour feel to it, yet it hadn't even changed. Perhaps it was just his style, "here we go."

His hand flew from his pocket as he flicked up a field of bones that ripped apart the floor in a zigzag race to be the first to hit Chara. They jumped out of the wa- no that was a different timeline. This was a smarter Chara, and they danced right through the bones without getting hit once, "our reports showed a massive anomaly in the timespace continuum. timelines jumping left and right, stopping and starting…"

The child jumped back in reflex, several Gaster Blasters materializing from the air around the Demon with the desire to kill in an instant, yet they had already moved out of the way. They knew if he skipped his first section of dialogue he was bound to attack with GB's next. They dashed forwards in an attempt to get an attack in, yet they knew he would dodge. He always did.

In the blink of an eye, the skeleton disappeared from their view and appeared somewhere else in the room just as Chara had predicted. His voice floated through the room as his Attack #3 dialogue came into earshot, "until suddenly, everything ends."

Another Gaster Blaster came into view, Chara jumped over it knowing it could only fire for three measly seconds. One… Two… They fell back to Earth as the Blaster dissipated, only to be slapped in the face with a wave of bones, plummeting their HP. Skin ripped from their jaw as bones made their own path through the facial flesh one damage at a time. Frisk's sins clawed the blood out of their mouth, "heh heh heh… that's your fault isn't it?"

Sending another GB in the kids direction, they were forced to turn and dodge, showing Sans their bloodied jaw and emotionless face. Their black raven hair was messy and it's blue eyes shown livid madness that matched their feminine grunt. Wait… that wasn't Chara's face.

It was Saten's face.

He didn't know when the change had happened, Sans had gotten so used to same thing happening he had stopped paying attention. He could only stare in agony as his friend, normally pure with innocence, looked onto him with bloodlust.

Sans refused to shoot another Gaster Blaster. No, not at her. Saten didn't deserve judgement, she had done nothing wrong. However the evil Saten twin to Chara only laughed at his false faith in friends.

"I'm gonna break you to **PIECES** , just like you were your _Brother_ …" she told him, dashing forwards to attack in his moment of vulnerability. He ducked under the wild swing and slowed down time to allow the perfect timing for a bone to deliver a crushing blow to the back of Saten's skull.

Sans let out a chuckle as the body hit the floor. Blood poured out of the girls head coating her cute street attire with a crimson blanket. However, Sans wasn't laughing at a joke, he was laughing in agony, "Gonna kill you again... _just like you killed your own mother_." he replied to the bloodied demon on the floor, pretending as if it were just Frisk as it normally was.

It hurt so much more to hear Saten's last breath escaping her mouth. He never wanted to kill an innocent, and the only reason he did was because he knew it was a dream. Yet the pain felt real nonetheless.

Ariel clenched his fist to quell his emotions, wondering what deity he had pissed off to make this dream happen. He had fought Chara enough times, why was this time different? Why did it hurt so much to do the same motion as he had a thousand times before?

Who wanted to see him suffer?

The world began to glow a white light again as the world began to reset and wash away the reminders of the battle that had happened. Having no other choice, he let the white light embrace him and take him back to the start of the battle to do it all again. His only hope was that one of these resets there would be an end to his suffering.

Lucky for him, that was all the curveballs his dream had to offer this time.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXx**_

Sans eyes opened a little bit, feeling the light of the room pour into his eyes. His head hurt. He felt a hand clench onto his arm, a small one by the feel of it. He could feel eyes set upon him. Possibly even two.

"You're okay…" a voice said to him. Sans rolled his head to the left and watched heads come into focus, and to his surprise found a male with dark black hair sitting there. A little girl, no not just any little girl but the little girl from the mall, stood in front of him and clenched his arm. At least that puzzle was solved. The male then spoke up again, "Uh… jeeze I don't really know if I should wait a bit or do it now… but uh...thank you for saving my sister. Like seriously you have no idea how grateful I am for your help."

An awkward silence then fell over the three of them as Sans wasn't one to take praise and couldn't think of any non-skeletal puns. It was almost ironic. "Y-you should also know they caught the Graviton Bomber shortly after you passed out." the boy added in, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head.

Sans rolled his head back to it's previous position, letting a smile creep to his previously emotionless face. At least no one else would be hurt by the bomber anymore. However, he would need to be much more careful in the future. He was careless in using the time slow ability like that, the Graviton Bomb being a miniature black hole and all, it had sucked the magic right out of him. If only he had been a bit smarter he could have been up and running by now.

Sans let the room fall silent again, staring off into the distance. He was a master conversationalist, but it just so happened right now he wasn't in the mood for talking. The ex-skeleton was far too occupied thinking about his dreams of the demonic Saten and of the throbbing headache that sat at the forefront of his mind. A constant reminder of the repercussions of overusing his magic pool.

Suddenly, Sans spoke.

"how long was i out?" Sans asked, eyes finishing their adjustments to the white walls of the sterile hospital curtains and walls. Looking to his left, past the two strangers, he could see a window and the bright, warm sunlight pouring through. After all of his years in the underground a part of him yearned to get up and touch it.

Looking to the other side of the room, he could make out various vials of differing colors on a sink in the corner of the room. It was a little difficult, but he could make out the names on some of the vials, 'Benzodiazepine' and 'triazolam' being two that he could see. To the normal person, those would just be names, but Sans used to be a scientist and he knew a thing or two. Those were the names of sleeping drugs.

"Two days." the boy told Sans, causing the ex-skeleton to snap his head to the black haired boy in surprise. It had never taken more than six hours to regain all of his magical energy… Upon seeing Sans expression though the boy began to shake his head frantically in defense, "I-I-I mean t-the doctors gave you some stuff and it almost put you into a coma. They s-said it was a miracle that you had even woken up!"

Ariel looked over to the vials, seeing them in a new light. Something told him those were meant to put him asleep. It wasn't the first time this city had tried something fishy… In fact he was almost positive putting patients into comas were the purpose of those vials. Why else would they pump chemicals like that into a person who passed out?

Suddenly a knock could be heard on the door, which was swiftly answered by the boy next to him, "Oy! Come on in!" the boy called, beckoning the new visitors. At least Sans knew these people, as it was none other than Railgun and the Level 4 Judgement member. Oh, and it seemed they had brought food with them too.

"Oh! You're up!" Misaka called to Sans, putting her bag down on the table and making her way over to the prone blue eyed boy. Her expression was one of… curiosity. She seemed to be debating something. Sadly though, his judgement ability was meant to tell if someone was pure or evil, so checking to see what a person was planning to do wasn't an option.

"I brought you three some food as well. Good morning Sans!" Kuroko called as she also set her bag filled with food onto the table and made her way towards Sans. However Sans noticed something about Shirai, she refused to take her eyes away from him. A move he remembered all too well from a certain child from the Underground.

Gasters words echoed through his mind, " _People are scared of what they cannot understand."_ Maybe Gasters theories on monsters applicable to Humans too? In fact, why did he use the word 'people' in the first place? More questions from the man named Gaster…

Sans heart skipped a beat when he saw the second sign appear. The mask of emotion. He had put together this puzzle piece when he saw Frisk murder his brother for the hundredth or so time. If they were going to kill him, they would never laugh at his jokes. They would don a face that shown no emotion, and here Kuroko was with the same one. Now that he noticed it, Misaka was wearing one too though it was less obvious.

Something was about to happen, and he had to make the choice right here and now if he was going to do anything about whatever 'it' was. He could trust them and let them do whatever they had planned, or expose them and foil their plans. Sans glanced up at the two Espers one more time before making his decision.

He rolled his head once again to the black haired boy and smiled. "you mind giving the three of us a moment? i've got a question and it's a little bit of a… _sans-ative_ topic I wanna talk about.." he joked, causing the little girl to giggle a little bit in response. The black haired boy quickly nodded and made his way out of the room, his dear little sister whom he'd abandoned back in the mall, follwing in tail.

With those two gone, Ariel was free to clear his name and discover what these girls were giving him looks about. To show his seriousness, he even hit the button on the side of the bed that let him sit up. Classy right? "Alright. Go ahead and spill the beans, you two have been in here for literally less than three minutes and I can tell something's off."

Kuroko looked over to Misaka, a look of surprise in her eyes. She looked to her sissy, then back to Sans. Sissy, then Sans. Then finally, she spoke, "We...We have reason to believe you used the Level Upper. I-I mean, at the time it wasn't a crime like it is now if that's what you're concerned about… but Saten told us she found the music player containing the Level Upper... in your apartment." she finished, dropping the accusation bomb on Sans.

Sans only chuckled at her attempt at an acusation, "nah, some girl on the street was using it and her growing esper field freaked me out, so when I went to ask about it she ran off. I took it home to see what it was, but I never used it. Glad I could _level_ with you guys on that though." he threw in the last part as a joke instead of elaborating, making sure to put on an extra big smile as he said it. After all, execution was half of the joke.

It worked too, even with the serious air Misaka and Shirai couldn't help but crack a smile, "Oh alright then. Glad we could clear that up then." Misaka told him, Kuroko walking over to grab the food from the table and bring it over. She opened up the plastic bag and passed out three styrofoam boxes. Dinner was served.

"Sorry about that by the way-" Kuroko started, grabbing chopsticks and flipping the lid open. A thick smell of delicious and succulent food entered the air, making Sans stomach grumble a little bit. "-Several people have been passing out into a coma a few days after using the Level Upper. The bomber at the mall you stopped, Kaitabi Hatsuya?" she stopped to put a clump of rice into her mouth, "He used one and passed out a day later." Shirai finished explaining to him.

Sans popped the box open to find an almost identical meal to the other girls, but he didn't really care. He could eat this, but it just wouldn't be as flavorful as ketchup was. Actually… after his most recent dream he might be staving off the ketchup for a while. At least until he could see Saten safe and sane again. Ketchup and blood were a little too similar looking _for his tastes._

"I do have a question. Unrelated as it may be though." Sans stated, choosing to eat his food with hands instead of chopsticks. It was just easier overall that way, "It's a uh.. Stupid question, but what would you do if you were faced with an enemy you just couldn't beat?" he asked while simultaneously trying not to let either of the girls put together the pieces of his past.

After a short pause for chewing, Misaka was the first to answer, "You can always beat someone if you try hard enough." she paused to open her drink, the can opening with a satisfying 'Chink!', "It might require some time to train, but anyone could be beat if you gave it your all." Kuroko shrugged at the answer, her opinion clearly differing from her sissys.

"No, I think some people can't be beat, and if that's the case then you need friends to back you up! If my time in Judgement has taught me anything, it's that you need backup no matter how strong you think you are." Kuroko said triumphantly, thinking back to her first days in Public Judgement work. Back when her and Uiharu had made their promise… She looked up to Sans who had just popped a sliver of meat into his mouth. She wondered if this question had something to do with that Frisk character Misaka had mentioned..

"Well, what if… what if that enemy.. _was_ your friend?" Ariel asked, trying his best to keep his emotions hidden from his two friends. He had always hidden his emotions, always. Why would now be any different? How would they even react to knowing he had murdered a child at least one hundred fold?

Misaka and Shirai exchanged worried glances to each other, but Sans was too busy throwing handfuls of rice into his maw to notice. This time Shirai was the one to reply, "The enemy is your friend? Then they weren't your friend to begin with right? They were just using you." Her words rang with a spell of truth, and it eased Sans worries he gained on the girls arrival.

Yet he still just had a feeling the two were plotting something.

Sans slid the tray away from him, placing it onto the table to his right which had been next to him the entire time. He hit the button and let the bed fall back down from its sitting-up setting. He always took a nap after a meal, well unless he was going somewhere directly afterwards. Besides he was in a bed afterall, does that not warrant nap time?

Letting his eyes fell heavy over his eyes, the world faded to black. Just like a light… he was out. If there was a competition for fastest napper, Sans would have won it. It astounded the two teenage girls how quickly he could accomplish that feat. It was sometimes impossible to wake him up. However today, that was a good thing for them. Misaka and Kuroko's plan required him to be sleeping to begin with.

The plan was simple enough. With all of the indirect answers Sans had been giving, it was obvious he was hiding something. So as of last night, Kuroko and Misaka had made the decision it was high time they found out more about him. Asking him would do no good, they had no way of telling if he were lying or not. Yeah he was their friend… but what did they _actually_ know about him?

The original idea was just to walk in while Sans was asleep and use Railgun's ability to get in his head again. They knew it was possible from last time. However, the plan had almost been ruined by him waking up… yet now they had another chance to go through with it, and it wasn't going to be another missed opportunity.

"Ready?" Kuroko asked, walking over to and then standing in front of the entrance to prevent anyone from walking in on them, especially the boy and his sister waiting outside. She held a stopwatch in her hand, the time set to five minutes, "You've got five minutes before I disconnect you. Good luck."

Misaka stood to her full height and looked down at the boy who laid asleep in front of her. Was this wrong? Well… it wasn't like he would notice.. too late to back out now.

Laying her left palm onto his shoulder she stared into her right. ' _Was this really the right idea? He may be a Level 5 but his power is like a Level 2's…'_ Misaka thought to herself. Perhaps she shouldn't do it after all….

' _SCREW IT!'_ she screamed internally, somewhat knowing she'd regret her actions in the future. As soon as her other hand made contact and she let the electricity flow, she knew it had worked. Her vision suddenly became hazy and the world began to darken.

Then she passed out.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

"?￢ﾘﾜ ?￢ﾚﾐ?￢ﾘﾜ ?￢ﾜﾌ? ﾟﾘﾐ?" came the mysterious symbols as she opened her eyes. It was the only thing she could actually see, as it was a void this time. The symbols trembled in front of her, weather they had personality or if they were just unstable…. That was unclear.

She stared up at the symbols. Were they warnings? If so the whole bomb thing had already happened… but what of the hands? Nothing made much sense, but what she did know what that this dream was a lot different than the last.

" _Ahem, Excuse me."_ A voice called from the darkness, " _I forget that you... humans are incapable of comprehending my speech without your fancy technologies."_ a voice said to Misaka's left, if you could call it that. In the void.. Ups and downs could be confusing. Without anything to base yourself off of, movement was more relative than realistic.

She could see a lot of black, that much was obvious. However there was one difference in the voices location. The white blob in a lighter shade of black then the rest of… everything. She could sort of see how the blob could be sorta seen as a body… sorta, "Uh.. hi? I'm looking for Sans…" she asked him, sitting up and then standing from her position on what could be interpreted as the ground.

" _I told you not to come back."_ the thing said, some semblance of a hand could be seen clenched from the beast. It sort of looked like the man outside of Sans house last time she was here. Actually, it might not be that long of a shot. But before she could jump to any conclusions, it spoke again, " _Do you even know the_ _ **problems**_ _you almost caused?! If Sans cannot fix his Personal Reality soon enough, this world will_ _ **perish**_ _!"_

"Perish? What d- Alright start over." she said, getting frustrated with the cryptic talk, "What's your name?" Misaka asked, looking down the white and black beast.

" _They call me Doctor W.D. Gaster. I am what you could call Sans.. father? I believe that is roughly the same translation you desire."_ he answered her, walking (or was he flying?) closer, his image becoming more refined and more human like. She could actually make out individual legs now, " _and by you being here… you threaten the very life of the city in which you desire to protect."_

An electric pulse jumped from her hair and arched through until it hit the nearly split ends, "What do you mean? Are you saying…"

" _If Sans cannot overcome his… problem, the place you know as Academy City will be destroyed by the disease that runs rampant through its streets."_ He explained, Misaka just noticing he wasn't pale… but instead he was a skeleton. Not only that, his head was cracked and missing his right eye.

But what of a disease did he speak of? Or what about the Frisk kid she saw in the last dream? She had come here for answers, yet here she was with more than she entered with. People who spoke in riddles… they were annoying to say the least, "Disease?" she asked him, "What exactly do you mean? And do you know someone named Frisk? How is Sans yo-"

" **S _?_** _ **ILE**_ _ **CE**_ _**YO**_ ** _?_** _ **C!HL**_ _ **D**_ _!_ " Gaster screamed, half of his words coming out as symbols and some as actual words, making it almost seem like a glitch. This statement was only enforced by the way the void literally rippled at the raw force in his voice. Either he was ridiculously strong or the void was actually quite feeble.

The doctor cleared his throat into a clenched hand, then continued, " _No more questions for you. We haven't the time. All I have time to say is that you must trust Sans, his situation with Frisk couldn't be avoided. Yes, the child you desire is dead, but you would have done the same much sooner given the circumstances he was faced with. Sometimes, you cannot avoid_ _ **fate**_ _."_

Misaka was going to question more, but she was hit with a jarring feeling and everything went blurry, almost like static on a TV screen. At first she became worried, but then realized what had happened. Had it already been five minutes already?

" _You've be✡ ?Een /? W arN e?d,."_ Gaster called to Misaka, but his message getting lost in translation as the void dream began to break down. Ripples began forming all over the place.

She reached out to the Doctor, desperate for more answers. She had doubted her friend once, but if it was true that Sans was faced with odds bad enough that he killed Frisk… she had to know what was going on.

The ripples got worse and worse before she could ask though, the roof and the ceiling almost touching now. She couldn't even see Doctor Gaster anymore.

Then leaving the same way she entered, she passed out.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

Saten sat on her bed, knees pulled up to her chest and her chin resting upon them. It had been two days since the whole breakdown at the Seventh Mist where Sans saved three people lives, including her own. She hadn't stopped thinking of it sense, and to be honest it was driving her nuts.

Today had been a nice day, yet she still had to wonder… what would have happened if she could have done something? Maybe Sans could have been there and seen all the happy people who celebrated the reopening of the Seventh Mist?

 _If only she were stronger._

Her toes grabbed at the bed sheet under them. It helped to make her feel better, just doing something in general did usually. Sometimes if things got bad enough she would pull out her lucky charm given to her by her mother and remember the good times. Back when she thought she could still be an Esper and save the day. Be the hero and not the damsel who visits the hospital wondering if her friend will wake up.

 _If only she were stronger._

Tears welled in her eyes. God, why did it have to be this way? All of her friends were espers, even someone who didn't deserve it like Sans. He was so lazy and never cared, if only he knew how terrible things were for a Level 0 in Academy City. The only reason she cared so much about folklore and urban myths is because it gave her hope. False hopes like the Level Upper.

 _If only she were stronger._

Letting go of her knees and falling onto her back, Saten let her eyes close. This world was so cruel. What she would do for powers like Misaka or Kuroko.. It was times like these she felt like putting everything on the line for one no matter the dangers. Actually… she still had Sans copy of the Level Upper right? Maybe listening to it wouldn't be such a bad idea. There had to be a reason she had kept it right?

Saten opened her eyes and rolled across her bed. Upon reaching the edge, she gingerly felt around the floor the object of her desire. The stolen music player containing the highly illegal copy of the song known as 'The Level Upper'.

Saten popped in her headphones and plugged the slender cord into the base of the black box. The screen came to life and it showed the dreaded item. A square black box with a musical note inside of it above three buttons. Rewind, pause, and play. Closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath, Saten pushed the 'play' button and the music began.

 _If only she had been stronger._

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXxX**_

 **So Misaka met the Doctor huh? The real question is… was it the real one? Or just a memory? On another note, we see Saten use the Level Upper. This story still follows the canon of both items, so don't expect Saten to suddenly become a full fledged Esper.**

 **I've been getting a lot of questions about Sans being more powerful now that he's human. Let me explain. In game we see a monster is able to absorb a soul, correct? Yet they do not devour them one at a time, they do them all at once. This leaves me to believe that since Asgore didn't consume each one to begin with, or Flowey for that matter, a monster must absorb all seven souls at once. Why else would losing your battle with Flowey not turn him into a god? (Sure you could argue that the game shuts down, but as a god he would be able to alter the game files to give an alternate ending or change it.)**

 _ **Next review target: To be released on the Sunday Upload**_

 _ **If you try to translate the WingDings, I cannot promise you will get all the letters. Using fonts like WingDings is a gamble on this site, as it deletes random characters for no reason.**_

 **Thank you all for reading! And as promised… here's the review… reviews.**

 **Jack Whitters: It could be Gaster in the world, or perhaps someone else? (I've responded to most of your question via PM)**

 **Hold the door for Hodor: Sans doesn't fight so people don't expect him to be a fighter. So he could indeed kill Rensa, probably quite fast as long as she couldn't memorize his moves on the fly.**

 **JarOfIdeas, HaveYouSeenThis: Here you go, Longer chapter!**

 **The Man, Onishin Tsukitenshi, Fabreezing through life, JarOf Ideas, Ciaran Hughes, Beth Fergusson, Damien Hughs, Guest, Fandango12345, Hellfire1996, reviewer, newreader, Goldenclaw, Harrison Riley, infadinityfollower, KZReviewer, Sakamae Hisamatsu, Crafted Reality, Gerald Morgan, Shad7000, Shirosaki Kizuro, Lunarella01827, kadehex: Thank you all! All of your reviews at one point or another talked of updating. How about this one eh?!**

 **Minxiboo, XxOmNiPoTent PriMorDial GodxX, Lunarella01827: What ever happened to you? You still reading or dj'a fall off the face of the Earth? (And nice poem Primordial)**

 **Firehedgehog, Bary Douglass: Indeed!**

 **The Gravrobber: I have no idea how Misaka's electrical connection works, but it's canon so I don't ask questions!**

 **Barry Douglass: You're the dude who reviewed like 8 times in a row. I mentioned you like two chapters ago.**

 _ ***Gerard Morgan**_ **: Gerard asks a really good question. Is Gaster dead or just scattered through space time? Simple answer? Both.**

 **HaveYouSeenThis: I won't drop the story if it hits low reviewers. I watch the view chart to decide if a story is or isn't worth writing anymore, and I'll send out VERY clear warnings about three chapters prior before I do anything that drastic.**

 **Goldenclaw: Good eye, many forget that is a thing. Shhh, let's keep that between us alright? I'd hate to spoil ARK 2? Or possibly 3?**

 **Guest: Thank goodness I chose the short monster right? And Misaka's sight was altered, as everyone she saw she perceived as humans. You could assume the same for their heights.**

 **Guest: Yes, I drew some inspiration from Handplates. Great comic series!**

 **Sorry if I didn't call you out in the reviews, there was a lot to go through! Many of you commented, but my reaction wasn't too interesting or great for you guys to read so I left it out. Well, unless seeing me say "Yeah I agree." or "Thanks!" is your thing, to which case you can just re-read this sentence a few times and you'll get the jist.**

 _ **Thank you all for reading! Have a nice day!**_

 _ **Catalog of Discovered Abilities : **_

_**Gaster Blaster (Ability): Summons a skull imbued with magical ability. The jaws can be seen popping apart as they prepare to discharge the magic within. Powerful enough to cut through even the thickest of steels. Point of origin unknown. Further research required.**_

 _ **Judgement (Passive): The ability to read a person's LOVE and EXP.**_

 _ **Judgement Eye (Ability): By focusing on a person's mind the user can see shards of a person's past. Not enough to know their past, but useful when needing small bits of information or threatening. You can tell when this skill is used when the user's speech seems to… lower. That's typically the case.**_

 _ **Shadow Eye (Ability): They say the eyes are the window to the SOUL. The user knows differently, as they can make theirs disappear on command. No side effects or physical effects, good for threatening. DeveLopeD bY**_ _ **ERRoR/?**_

 _ **Shortcut (Ability): Sans is able to teleport up to 500 Miles away if the known X and Y coordinates are present. However, without a picture of the location he cannot choose the altitude of his teleport. Without a picture he will ALWAYS land upon the highest land mass he can physically enter. (Ex. Rooftop) MUST be created in a shadow.**_

 _ **Time Slow (S Ability): A move not to be taken lightly. It can slow, or even freeze time. However, great power comes with great responsibility. It is a MAJOR (as marked by the "S") ability, and saps immense amounts of magical energy. The more energy that is prohibited by this ability, the more magical energy sapped. Not recommended for battle, especially one with high energy weaponry.**_

 _ **Voice Distortion (Ability): Much like the Shadow Eye ability, this is a way to intimidate your opponent. It gives Sans the ability to make his voice gain an echo and produce a hollow sound. Perfect for declaring the state of the world from a hallway.**_


	11. That Little Voice in Your Head

**Let's Rol-ol-ol-ol**

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXxX**_

 **Chapter 11: That Little Voice in Your Head**

 _Running._

That was all she could think of as she sprinted away. Darkened skies sat overhead and beckoned for the lightning and hailstorm that followed. Cars were overturned and windows were shattered. Oh god, when did it all get this bad? Why had she let it come to this? If only she had listened to the signs…

She had been right about Sans the entire time. He killed Frisk, and he had been planning to kill everyone in Academy City too. All of her suspicions had been right, but she had refused to take the simple step of doing something about it. Now people were dying, and it was all her fault. For once the Railgun was helpless.

A crack lit up the sky, whether it was the weather or one of Sans lasers… she didn't know. She kept running, tears streaming down her face. If only she were more powerful and didn't accept her limits, then maybe she wouldn't have had to sit there and watch Kuroko die. Maybe Saten's last words wouldn't have been to run.

She stopped a moment to catch her breath. Panting heavily as the rain poured onto her back like a torrent. Her vision was blurry and her lungs hurt from going for so long. Her legs felt like they were going to explode.

"heya." a voice called from above, a crack of lightning able to be heard distinctly in the distance as he spoke. She looked up to see the boy in his blue hoodie all soaked in rain atop the hangover of the Seventh Mist. He wore that same face he always did, the one that hid all of his emotions. It was the same face she had mistaken for a smile a year ago.

"You BASTARD!" Misaka screamed at him a major arc of electricity coming off of her. Usually in anger she was the calmest, but this was primal rage for her. This… this _monster_ had killed her friends and the girl who called her sissy. She hated him for it, yet she knew killing him wasn't possible. He would just use his laser to rip through any offence she tried to lay down.

Sans chuckled and jumped from his position on the hangover and landed onto the ground with an impressive 'THUD'. She looked Sans in the eye as he looked up, a visceral rage making her body shudder at the thought of what she'd do to him, "I was always right about you!" she called to him, a nearly-intact street light nearby exploding from voltage overload, "You just wanted to hurt us!"

He let his arms up in a shrug, "heh heh heh. you don't think i enjoy playing with my food first? looks like you'll always be playing _ketchup,_ railgun." A wicked smile set across his face as he she heard him saying it. The Level 5 Electromaster's fists shaking in a boiling fury.

"Stop USING ME!" she screamed, releasing all of the pent of emotions out in the form of electricity. The arcs came from all over her body and engulfed the area in a blinding light. She covered her eyes from the light, hopefully vaporizing the monster she once called a friend. Sadly to her dismay though, he somehow stood upon the hangover again. He let out a wicked chuckle.

"it's funny how much you villainize me railgun. you honestly think me to be your foe?" he asked while flicking his arm up, letting loose the same skull-looking lasers she had seen back from when he saved their lives in the Seventh Mist. The same place they stood before now.

Misaka was forced to take flight at the sight of the weapons, watching the raw power inside of them rip apart the street where she once stood. She landed back onto her feet and attempted to land a hit on the monster, an arc shooting off in the boy's direction. It was on a direct collision course, and surprisingly enough he didn't even bother to move out of the way. However when it hit him he didn't even act phased. It was almost as if he were immune.

"you SiS **s** y, look around you. this city is in the Wa **k** e of destruction." He told her, a rabid smile across his face. He still stood atop the hangover, perhaps another strike was appropriate? "the mighty MI **Sak** A fought down so easily. **GET U** P and live a little!" he yelled at her, releasing two more lasers behind her that barely missed their mark.

" _ **M**_ _IS_ _ **AKA! W**_ _A_ _ **KE UP**_ AND REALIZE IT'S TOO LATE!" Sans un _chara_ cteristically yelled at her, another crack of lightning hitting in the distance, " _ **WAKE UP MISAKA**_!" he called again as he ran forwards in attempt to punch her in the face.

" _ **WAKE UP MISAKA! WAKE UP SISSY!**_ " he called again, the world seeming to be fading from existence as she came across the realization everything here was a dream. Her idea of Sans began to fade away as Misaka watched the broken skyscrapers faded into white, and let the rest of the world follow suit.

One moment Misaka was dreaming of an imaginary battle with an apocalyptic Sans, and the next she was lying in her bed with Kuroko standing by the bedside and grabbing her by the shoulders with a concerned expression, "Sissy wake up!" she called again, pulling Misaka from the trance of sleep.

The electromaster pulled from the depths of her mind and entered reality once more. The skyscrapers and rain had been replaced with sheetrock walls and the company of a version of Kuroko that was alive and well.

The dream was over.

"You with the living again?" Kuroko joked with her roommate, pulling her hands back to her slender, petite frame. Misaka blinked the sleep away from her eyes before replying.

"Y-yeah. Just had a nightmare that's all. This whole Sans thing's got me all worked up." Misaka explained, throwing her arms out from under the blankets to stretch. No matter how bad anyone's dream was, or even previous day… nothing beat that feeling in the morning of a good stretch. Railgun took in a deep breath as her outstretched limbs craned into the air.

As she did this, Shirai the roommate watched devilishly on the sidelines, a plan forming in her head,"Hehehehehe, is that a hug you want my dear Sissy?" Kuroko said under her breath, squirting breath freshener into her mouth, "Allow me to provide…" At saying this the teleporting girl jumped into the stretching arms of her beloved sissy and embraced the heat of the moment, "Oh Sissy!"

Railguns face began to redden as she grabbed the pigtailed lass by the arm and threw her across the room. The teleporting esper hit the wall with a 'THUD', her body sliding down the wall to the floor as if she were puddy. Normally one would be worried, but it was something Misaka was used to at this point. Filthy perverts like that get what they deserve.

Even as perverted and rude as it was, the notion had helped break the tension left behind by the dream. She felt a bit better after that little scene, perhaps the esper did have a plan after all?

Kuroko sighed and stood up from her position on the floor, wiping off her nightgown. Even if the room was clean, somehow at the end of every one of their… 'fights' she managed to get it dirty somehow, "Oh! While we're up.." Kuroko trailed off, running over to her laptop with new interest. Misaka only watched in curiosity and slight wonder of what must go through that poor girls head.

"Here," Kuroko said, moving out of the way so that Misaka could see the computer on the desk. The Level 5 rolled onto her stomach and squinted at the screen so she could see. The words were simple, but answered a few questions.

 _ **No search results found for search name: "Frisk"**_

Misaka frowned. If it was true that Sans had killed Frisk, why hadn't there been any record of them in the database? Academy City has records of any living esper in the world spare a few unregistered or undiscovered, but those never showed any power. So why did Sans kill Frisk?

"It's the same thing for Gaster too. I tried searching all different types for his name: W.D. Gaster, Doctor W.D. Gaster, Gaster, W.D.G.A.S.T.E.R., and a few others." she told Misaka, shutting the lid of the laptop, "No results, once again we're left with dead ends and no answers." she complained, leaning her head back over the backrest of the chair.

"What if we were wrong though? To go back into Sans head without permission….." Misaka said aloud, giving voice to her thoughts as she pondered the idea that maybe they were jumping to conclusions. Even if it were her idea to get in Sans head, she still had that voice in her head that made her feel guilty.

Kuroko shook her head in response to Misaka's thoughts, "No, if we are going off what we saw in the first dream that Frisk was at one point alive, then we have to believe that Gaster was telling the truth that Sans killed Frisk as well. We can't pick and choose what to believe." she explained, crossing her arms to show she was thinking about something.

"We can't tell Uiharu and Saten though. They'll only see the good in him, and I don't know if I can anymore." she told her sissy, revealing her thoughts on their two low level friends.

The Level 5 nodded in response and threw the covers off from over her, the little Gekotas on her pajamas smiling happily. However Misaka was wearing a face the exact opposite to her froggy companions. Her face held a frown and scrunched eyebrows showed her torn thoughts as her mind battled an internal conflict. Sans had clearly done something in his past, yet she couldn't help but think something was wrong here in the present.

Misaka threw her legs over the side of the bed and stood up, walking over to her desk to prepare for the activities the day held. Her mistrust of Sans was evident, yet she wasn't at the point where she felt she needed to confront him about it yet. No, she needed something real, something physical for that.

As to if she would find what she desired, she had no idea. Getting dirt on Sans would be difficult. Where would they even look to find so-

Her thoughts were interrupted by Shirai's phone going off on her bed. Even if it was on vibrate, it was quite loud. Kuroko walked over to the bed and met Misaka's eye with an apologetic face before answering, "Hi? Yeah this is Kuroko." she said into the speaker, "Mhhm. Mhhm. Tomorrow? The West End?! That's crazy expensive!" she called into the phone.

Misaka stared her roommate in suspense. Who was she talking too, "Mhhm, yeah? Yeah we can do that. Tomorrow at seven sound good?" Kuroko asked before saying her salutations and shutting the phone, "Guess who just called? Our good pal Sans. He said he wants to have dinner with us tomorrow night."

Looks like Misaka just found a great chance to find some potential dirt on Sans.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

Sans sat in the hospital room without his usual smile, instead he wore the face of someone with a heavy heart. He was feeling down, depressed, even a little bit careless. He had let his trust fall to someone else, and they had betrayed it. They hadn't even the patience to let him fall asleep first before their execution.

That's right, Sans was talking of Misaka and Kuroko.

Ever since he arrived here he wasn't exactly being clear, but at the same time no one had exactly came out and asked him. Actually, since he arrived here on the plane he was being told what to say right out of the gate. It wasn't his fault his story couldn't be trusted, it was all in the paperwork.

And now once again he sat alone on his bed, pondering what he thought he had.. And what the reality was. Misaka had been getting in his head by linking electrical charges that formed memories, thus allowing her to see into his mind. Well, that's what he assumed anyways. Between the passing out by the two of them and the feeling that his head had been missed with… something had to be off.

And Sans knew a thing or two about his head being messed with.

Sans flung his feet over the side of the bed, ignoring the beeping noise that was alerting the doctors of his movement. He'd be out of here before they came in anyways. The soft pat of his feet hitting the ground could be heard, and an observer might see him grab his clothing from the table. However his escape, well that was more of a magic trick.

Sans walked into the shadows and welcomed the void into his world. The sterile white walls became replaced with the eclipse of darkness and cold. He was in a place where no doctor could touch him, nor no friend could betray him. He, if only for this one instant, was one with the void.

Just as sudden as it began, it stopped. Sans was slowly faded from black and into reality. A smile set onto his face again as he was welcomed by the orange haze of a setting sun in his apartment window. A flock of black birds flew past his window in a hurry to return home somewhere else.

He stepped out from the shadows of the corner of the room and into the sunlight of the overworld. It was a nice contrast from the dark, damp depths of The Undergound he was used to. However he still hadn't forgotten his feelings for the people he left behind there. Alphys, Asgore, Monster Kid, and everyone else who had been evacuated… they were still trapped under there, yet Sans had no intention of rescuing them. Chances were that a reset would happen long before he managed to get the remaining souls he needed.

To be honest he wasn't even sure if his body could handle any more souls either.

However Ariel had more pressing matters at hand right now. How was he going to deal with Misaka and Kuroko? They needed to see he wasn't a threat, but at the same time he didn't want to pop the delicate balloon that was keeping him afloat as friends with them. Something needed to change.

Sans reached deep into his pocket and retrieved his cell phone, it was the same one from the Underground but it had a few new contacts in it. He thumbed down until he saw the person he was looking to call.

 ***Ring Ring..Ring Ring..***

"Hello? Is this Kuroko? Thanks for checking up on me back in the hospital, but I have a question for you.. Do you two want to go out for dinner tomorrow at The West End?"

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

Saten skipped happily through the park, a spring in her step. The birds were singing outside and the sun was high above the park, giving the world a beautiful yellow glow. It seemed as if nothing could go wrong today, and oh how great today was. Today was her first day as an Esper.

Her ability was ' _Areo Hand',_ an ability that allowed for the ejection of air from touch. She could launch a car if she were powerful enough, but after taking her new powers for a test drive she came to the conclusion that her power was weak. She estimated at least a Level 2, which was two levels above zero so she had absolutely no complaints.

The green grass of the park around her looked so natural in the breeze that flew overhead. It swayed the trees and pushed her hair back. It felt nice, and it reminded her of her new ability.

"Hey Saten! Look at me!" her friend called from behind. Saten looked over her shoulder to see the fellow user of the Level Upper. She was using her newfound abilities to lift up several old soup cans (she had hopefully been carrying with her) into the air, "These powers you gave us are great! I never thought I'd be able to do this!" the girl smiled and let the cans gently fall to the ground and leaving them there, "I can't thank you enough!"

Saten giggled a little bit just out of joy and walked over to her friend, "I know right? Last night I kept blasting anything and everything in my apartment! It's so great, but I just _feel_ that if I keep trying I can get even more powerful!" she explained to her friend, talking her ear off in excitement.

The two continued talking and joking off as they went through the park. They laughed at each others jokes, tried a few different things with their abilities in the form of dares, and ran away with glee as they missed with the non-espers in the park. A part of Saten thought it was wrong to do that since they weren't espers that long ago, yet overall she really just didn't care. It was as if she had become blind to a little piece of what people thought of her.

"Hey kid!" Jamie, Saten's friend, called out to one of the kids on the playground, "Go fetch!" as Jamie said that, the kids toy truck he had been playing with launched out of his grasp and into the bushes nearby. Jamie let loose a hardy laughter, "Oh man being an Esper is great! Imagine what we could do if I were a Level 4 or 5 though?!" she thought aloud.

Saten knew they were bullying the kid, and was trying to find it in herself to get Jamie to stop. But the day had been so fun, and their new abilities had put them both into such a good mood. She didn't want to kill it all by telling Jamie what a rude person she was being….

Eh, the kid would be fine anyways right?

Saten ignored her impulse to stop her friend from her bullying, and the two continued their way through the park. There was still daylight left in the day, why not seize it? And carpe diem they did, as the two continued their joyful walk through the park until the sun began to set.

After all the fun she had today, Saten had to admit… being an Esper was great. She felt like she could get away with anything. She'd have to remember to tell Sans what a wonderful day she had tomorrow after she went home and got some rest.

The two girls exited the park together, but waved as they went their separate ways home. As Saten walked home, exhausted from using her ability so much, she couldn't help but feel like she had done something wrong today. The only way she knew how to describe it was… like a snake? No, like a flea. There was this flea on her back and it kept telling her things that made her feel bad like how she shouldn't have used her ability to get a reaction out of that couple.

I'd be okay, she'd apologize later of course. That aside, the only thing left on her mind was what she'd do when she woke up to the next beautiful morning.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

Gaster sipped from the coffee cup in some attempt to get rid of the throbbing headache caused by his other half in the void. There was no reason for such an annoyance to be so deliberately placed upon the only _working_ half of himself. You'd think the Void Gaster would learn to carry his side of the load. Well, maybe it was the third part of Gaster's fault, but he hadn't run enough tests to see if that part of him even existed anymore.

Sipping more of the hot caffeinated lava from the cup, he pondered why humans enjoyed selling the stuff at a molten temperature. Was it merely to scold the customer for not buying more? Or perhaps it was in some attempt to destroy their taste buds before they could taste their terrible food.

Swallowing the beverage, Gaster looked at his reflection in the dark substance. One might not distinguish his black attire from the black of coffee, but after time in the void you realize how many shades of darkness there are. Even most monsters in The Underground agree there are shades darker than the shadows. The darkness grows dark, darker, yet darker.

As Gaster waited there in his seat for his accomplice, he felt his soul grow darker, more broken, yet still in one piece.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**_

 **Rising tensions between Misaka and Sans. Could it be that Gaster is manipulating the two? Or perhaps Misaka is manipulating herself? What about Saten's growing LOVE?**

 **Thank you all for reading this chapter, and thank you all who reviewed. You guys wonder why I ask for reviews, because if I don't I'll get 7 reviews compared to about 30. Oh, and for that matter.. Guys and gals, don't be afraid to post something negative in a review. I'm not afraid of some flames, in fact it would help to see where you all stand. I wish to improve my writing, and seeing in what areas I need to work on and refine and what areas I excel in… that's up to me.**

 **Also I've been considering putting up a request for a Beta Viewer so I can get chapters out on Sunday instead of early morning Monday (Like 2 AM). At the moment I've got a friend helping with proofreading while I do plot stuff and rewrite areas they think need to be fixed. However that takes a while, so a Beta Viewer might be helpful…**

 **Also some of you may notice I posted this on Monday rather than Monday morning/Sunday Night. That's solely because I felt the chapter wasn't ready and needed more refining before posting. I know, I hate making you guys wait. But on the same page I don't want you to wait and find a poorly written chapter that will need to be completely re-edited and re-read. Sorry for the inconvenience.**

 _ **Due to the amount of reviewers now, the review for faster chapter limit has been moved up. This time it is: 190.**_ **Last time you guys hit the limit two days after posting, I feel this is due to the amount of new readers we have. (Welcome!) So, to help with that I'll also consider counting one review as two if it is thorough. (Ex: Hellfire or Jack)**

 **And that's about it for this chapter. I'd say we have a few chapters left for this ARK.**

 _ **Thank you everyone for reading, and have a nice day!**_

 _ **Catalog of Discovered Abilities:**_

 _ **Gaster Blaster (Ability): Summons a skull imbued with magical ability. The jaws can be seen popping apart as they prepare to discharge the magic within. Powerful enough to cut through even the thickest of steels. Point of origin unknown. Further research required.**_

 _ **Judgement (Passive): The ability to read a person's LOVE and EXP.**_

 _ **Judgement Eye (Ability): By focusing on a person's mind the user can see shards of a person's past. Not enough to know their past, but useful when needing small bits of information or threatening. You can tell when this skill is used when the user's speech seems to… lower. That's typically the case.**_

 _ **Shadow Eye (Ability): They say the eyes are the window to the SOUL. The user knows differently, as they can make theirs disappear on command. No side effects or physical effects, good for threatening. DeveLopeD bY**_ _ **ERRoR/?**_

 _ **Shortcut (Ability): Sans is able to teleport up to 500 Miles away if the known X and Y coordinates are present. However, without a picture of the location he cannot choose the altitude of his teleport. Without a picture he will ALWAYS land upon the highest land mass he can physically enter. (Ex. Rooftop) MUST be created in a shadow.**_

 _ **Time Slow (S Ability): A move not to be taken lightly. It can slow, or even freeze time. However, great power comes with great responsibility. It is a MAJOR (as marked by the "S") ability, and saps immense amounts of magical energy. The more energy that is prohibited by this ability, the more magical energy sapped. Not recommended for battle, especially one with high energy weaponry.**_

 _ **Voice Distortion (Ability): Much like the Shadow Eye ability, this is a way to intimidate your opponent. It gives Sans the ability to make his voice gain an echo and produce a hollow sound. Perfect for declaring the state of the world from a hallway.**_


	12. Dresses, Glasses, and Passes

**Faster upload at 207 reviews? I dunno I just like the number. Oh, and for any of you secret hunters… today's your lucky day. S=3 P=4 m=-3.**

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXxX**_

Chapter 12: Dresses, Glasses, and Passes

"S-s-s-shut up!" Misaka told to her friend, blushing hardly with her fists clenched around the frilly edges of the long, dark blue skirt. For once Kuroko had a reason to call out Railgun, as it was a red letter day. The Level 5 most notorious for being childish (and even more wearing shorts under her skirt), was currently wearing a dazzling blue sparkled dress that came down to her ankles.

"Oh come on, Sissy! You look amazing in that dress. I just seeing you in that dress makes me weak in the knees! My brea-" but before Kuroko could finish her though, a bolt of electricity came from Misaka and knocked the teleporter to the ground to shush her up.

The railgun held her fist in a clenched anger towards her chest, an arc going down between her hair and her spine, "Finish that thought you pervert." Misaka challenged, another electric arc showing her readiness to blast the teleporter back to the ground with an even stronger electric shock. Kuroko only waved her hands in defense as she attempted to get back to her feet whilst in high heels.

"You're no fun.." Kuroko muttered under her breath as she stood back up on wobbly knees. It was the first time in a very, very long time since the Level 4 had worn something like this. Although she had to admit it was most likely Railgun's first time in a while dressing up as well, as convincing her was a chore in itself. At least if they were going to get made fun of they'd get made fun of together.

Hitting the light switch, the two Espers began to take their leave from the dorm. Kuroko looked behind her to be sure the decoys were planted correctly in the beds….. All clear. The doors firmly shut, Kuroko grabbed her sissy by the hand and teleported them to the streets. Phase one of plan 'Date Night' was complete, the next step on the list was catch a train downtown for their late night dinner.

"You look even better in the moonlight!" Kuroko exclaimed, stars in her eyes as she gazed at the dolled up electromaster. Misaka didn't even have to clench her fist or speak before an arc of electricity came off of her hair, sending a very clear message to the Level 4. A message Kuroko did not dare to ignore.

That aside, the two began their walk down the street, watching seemingly alternate city under the lights of the street lamps. It was totally different from what they had always seen during the day, as night activities were rare due to the curfew. It just made the night feel a little more special for the two, even if they were walking through town like two prostitutes.

Time passed as the two walked down the street to the trains in their respective dresses, Misaka looking more like prom queen than date night material. The only thing her sparkly blue dress was missing was a silver tiara to wear and she'd be set for the dance of a high school drama's queens dreams. Shirai on the other hand...

Shirai looked like an entirely different person. She wore a long dress to match with )what she imagined as her 'date', but hers was entirely green. The most stunning detail of the teleporter was the fact her hair was down and wild around her upper back. A true once in a lifetime sight for any perverts looking for middle schoolers in the middle of the night.

"Tell me again why I let you convince me into this?" Misaka asked as they neared the train station, her arms crossed in embarrassment over the sight of her bare chest. She was ashamed to be wearing something that revealed her top like this, and for good reason too. She was used to having the protection of clothing at all times.

On the opposite end of the spectrum however, Kuroko was embracing the stride and, for the most part, embracing all of the stares she got from the men on the street. Well, that was after she got past how creepy it felt. "Well, you lost the bet and in return I got to pick what we wore. I also figured some eye candy might distract a certain man if you know what I mean…"

"YOU'RE TRYING TO SEDUCE INFORMATION OUT OF SANS USING ME?!" Misaka yelled angrily in Kuroko's direction as they walked up the stairs. The girl only nodded in response instead of making a flat out answer, which only gathered the electromasters anger further.

"Well, since good ol` Ariel is a Level 5 as well… chances are he'd be most likely interested to you, right? Of course he is hard to read, so that assumption may be wrong… but you want answers right?" Kuroko persuaded Misaka with her silver tongue, defusing the figurative bomb that was ignited between them. Misaka only muttered under her breath in conclusion.

Nearing the top of the stairs and the entrance to the loading platform, the two looked up to see the train they desired to take coming to a halt. The 9:30 Train, right on time. People pooled behind the yellow line in preparation to board, and then go on about their night as normal. Lucky for the two Espers there weren't many people out at this time of night, as most had already gone home after a long day at work.

Approaching the train, the two walked through the… 'malfunctioning' electronic turnstile onto the loading platform. People seemed to pay no attention to the girls, spare a few people whispering questions into each other's ears on if that was or wasn't the famous railgun in the fancy dress or perverts daring each other to talk to the duo in hopes of getting their numbers.

Sadly, any who attempted would likely be zapped, so the chances of a Mr. Railgun or a Mr. Shirai were low. Mostly because that's not how last names works.

Boarding the train Misaka chose to stand and use the handle, as did Kuroko, who refused to get her skirt messed up by sitting on the seats. Suddenly, a question popped into the weaker Esper's head, "Are we going to as- no, confront him about Frisk tonight?" she asked, her brow narrowed, showing the seriousness of the question.

"If he gives us the opportunity, we ask." Railgun answered, pulling slightly as the train began to roll out of the station. The doors shut them inside as the magnets began to repel and send them flying out of the station. "I'm all for getting some answers, but I think he might be playing hard to get and evade the question, so timing will be important." Misaka replied, her response a bit more thought out than either had expected.

Kuroko nodded in response to the question, letting the conversations fall silent so they could look out the bus windows with peace. The mesmerizing night lights that awoke the city gave eye candy to the girls while their lipstick clad mouths remained shut. The various lights reminded them of stars, and what a beautiful night sky laid before them.

Tonight hadn't even begun, and they were already having a good time.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXx**_

 _ ****_"This is the place….?" Kuroko asked questionably, looking down at her phone to see if this truly was or wasn't the place she desired to be at. No matter how many times she checked it though, it remained the same. This was The West End.

Misaka looked around in awe of what she could see from the street. Glass pane windows showed off the brilliant light scheme of blues and yellows, candles lit on the walls provided a sense of warmth even from the outside. The place just felt nice, and for the price it better feel great.

Walking inside and onto the red velvet carpet, they were greeted by a charming man in a tuxedo who stood behind his podium, most likely being the bouncer so to speak.

"Table for three, I believe?" Shirai questioned him as they approached, unsure of what table to ask for. The man looked down at the booklet on the podium in front of him, glaring through the glasses he wore on the bridge of his nose.

"I'm sorry, name madam?" he asked, being polite as possible. Shirai gave him both of their names, yet neither seemed to change the man's stature, "I'm sorry Miss Shirai, but it seems you did not make a reservation. Is there someone you were hoping to dine with?" he asked the two with a puzzled look.

Misaka looked over to Kuroko, there's no way that Sans could have paid for this place right? "Ariel Gaster? Or maybe Sans Gaster?" she asked the man, seeing his interest peak at the mention of Sans preferred name.

He closed the book and put his hands behind his back, "I'm sorry but the reservation for Mr. Gaster is a gift by t-"

"Martin it's fine, they're friends of Ariels. I invited them too." a woman said from behind the man, causing the duo to peak around in surprise. Behind the man stood a beautiful blonde woman in high heels. She had plush red lips and a stunning short dress to compliment it, and not to mention the designer handbag that fell at her side. Neither of the two espers had any idea how Sans knew this woman.

"Hehehe! You don't recognize me?" she asked, clearly knowing something they didn't, "Maybe I should ask for your order, or if you would like today's special?" the woman hinted at, a bit of nostalgia coming off the words. It sounded a bit like….

It was at this point the dawn of realization hit Railgun and Kuroko. This was the waitress who always took their order at their hangout cafe. They hadn't even registered it could have been her, they'd never seen her outside the cafe let alone all dolled up like this. At least that explained how Sans knew her, he was always at the cafe early and had plenty of time to chat with her.

The bouncer, apparently named Martin, unhooked the red velvet bar that stood in the way of the newest customers and welcomed them inside the lavishing restaurant, "My apologies, please enjoy your stay Miss Shirai and Miss Mikoto. Oh, and welcome back Miss Austin."

Misaka and Kuroko made eye contact with each other as they walked through the place only the richest of diners ate. In this place, money might as well be tissue paper and coins ammunition to shoot those who annoyed the wealthy eaters. Thinking of why this new girl, Austin, would work at a Cafe and have special privileges here, Misaka began to notice things didn't add up. Wh-

"Thinking of how I can afford this place, yet work at a dingy diner, no?" Austin asked, causing Misaka's face to fluster to an embarrassing shade of red. "My father owns this place, and I own most of the cafe's in Academy City. You could say I work… undercover, so I can see what it's like to be a normal person."

' _A normal person? Why would anyone want normal when your dad owns a restaurant completely made with bocate wood?'_ Misaka thought to herself, elaborating on the endless amounts of cash that must have been spent to achieve this level of decadence and perfection.

Walking through room after room, Austin began to clear up some questions they had. She had become friends with Sans during his long waits at the cafe, and when he asked for a favor she couldn't deny him the request out of some emotion towards him. May that be love or spite, who knows? It wasn't Misaka's nor Kuroko's place to ask anyways.

They entered a room with a strange shade of green, only about seven to nine tables in the room to dine on. However, all the tables were empty.. Spare one. One table in the center of the room held a certain pale boy they had been waiting on. Sans, and he was still wearing that hoodie of his.

"heya. glad you could make it." Sans greeted them, nodding in acknowledgement to Austin. She then smiled and left the room, leaving the three alone in the candle lit room, "here i thought i was taking you two out to eat, yet here i see you brought _the dressing_." he joked, pointing at their well tailored dresses, making Misaka blush slightly as she thought back to one of Shirai's earlier conversations.

"take a seat?" he asked, motioning for the two other chairs that sat idly by waiting to be sat in. Both the girls pulled the hardwood chairs back, the plush insides of the chair making them almost feel like mob bosses.

As Shirai patted down her dress as to make sure it wouldn't be in the way, Sans took note of the bead of sweat on her brow. It wasn't hot in the room at all, and he was wearing a hoodie. (Which getting in this place with a hoodie was a chore in itself.) So what was Shirai sweating over?

"huh? what's wrong Shirai?" he asked, pointing out his observation, "Look a bit nervous. been somewhere you shouldn't have been?" Sans joked, his voice seeming a bit more sinister than normal. Wait, or was that just her imagination? No, there's no way Sans could have known about the brain digging. Y-yeah. Sans was asleep the whole time.

Sans looked at the two as if expecting a reaction, and then after getting nothing but nervous glances he shrugged his shrug and went about his next joke, "hey, lighten up kid. you're looking at me like i murdered someone. aintcha` know i don't have the _soul_ for that kinda thing?" he winked in an attempt to lighten the mood, but also looking a bit corny.

Misaka awkwardly shifted around in her seat, trying to get comfortable under the gaze of the assumed murdered. Just looking at him.. how was he so good at playing dumb? His everlasting smirk sat on his face still, and he didn't look the slightest bit nervous. What was the point of this dinner date again?

"jeez tough crowd. would either of you like something to drink?" Sans asked, attempting to grasp at even the bases of a conversation with either of the girls. While Misaka seemed to be off in La La Land, Kuroko spoke up.

"Yeah, got any water? Water sounds just right for someone watching their carbs." she told him, making up some excuse not to list off some fancy drink name she should know. Sans looked over at one of the waiters who stood nearby, and the waiter nodded before walking off, hopefully getting the message.

However, as this was going on, more thoughts began to float into Misaka's head. ' _What if he killed someone today? What if he is good at hiding his emotions because he's an assassin? Who else needs to get hurt? Are you going to regret not asking sooner? What ab-_

"WHO THE HELL IS FRISK?!" Misaka yelled, slamming her fists onto the table, unconsciously glad the waiter had left. The Level 5 held an anger in her eyes as she stared at the skeleton, who only calmly looked back at her despite the question being so close to home. It only made her more angry when he let out a chuckle.

"heh heh heh. that's the question everyone wants to know, huh?" Sans questioned, only furthering her suspicions that Sans is a murder, "well, first off let me ask you a question. have you ever heard the story of Kissy Kissy Mew?"

….no reply from either of the girls. That wasn't exactly the way they expected him to re-route the question.

"i'll take the silence as a no." Sans said as a waiter made his way around, dropping off two glasses of the default sparkling cider by the tableside for Shirai and Railgun before giving Kuroko the desired water she asked for. Sans then took this time to continue his story.

"well, you see it's a tale of two people. A cat girl and her crush." he began explaining, "the girl had the powers to make anyone do as she wished, but no matter what she did she couldn't bring herself to force the boy into liking her."

Sans picked up his glass and sipped what hopefully wasn't wine, then continued, "at first she tried being nice and doing everything correctly, and made good progress despite the errors in her chosen path. however, in the end the boy rejected her and caused Kissy to build anger."

"Are you saying Frisk was in love with you?" Misaka asked, glaring daggers at Sans. He didn't seem to care though as he just took another sip from his glass, "To which case why did you _murder them?"_

Sans smile faded, and he set down the glass that housed the red liquid he had been sipping. Clearly the question he had been asked did not bode well with him, "well, you see kid. Kissy decided that if she couldn't have her perfect ending, she would make sure no one did." he said, the laughing tone completely gone from his voice. For once, Sans was being serious.

Suddenly Misaka noticed she could hear her own heartbeat, the room had gotten that quiet and she hadn't even noticed it. God, everything felt so erie. It was like she was back in the dream where everyone was dead, and the ambiance of the candle flames only helped to make it feel as if she were next on the chopping block.

Suddenly the always cheerful and weak little Sans they knew, the one who they found in his apartment crying, suddenly seemed unholy and twisted as if the soul of happiness that resided inside him had disappeared.

"Kissy would go to school next day and tell her crush to kill himself. After watching the blood **poUR OUT of hIS dEAd cARcasS** , she felt new strength." Sans told the two girls who felt paralyzed and unable to move despite the fear they felt as his voice gained a slightly demonic tone to it in the middle of his sentence.

His smile was gone almost to a frown, those blue eyes looking towards Railgun menacingly as if she were the cause of some kind of inward suffering. One moment they seemingly looked into her soul, and the next they were gone altogether to be replaced with the grim reaper himself in his eyes. Kuroko's breath began to come out choppy, yet she couldn't find it within herself to move still. she was too stunned. Fear paralyzed her body from moving.

"Kissy went on to kill everyone else in her school." He told the two, spinning a grim tale. Misaka only wished she could revert to what she had seen in him moments before, "and Frisk did the same thing to me, but instead killed _everyone_ I loved and put trust into. I have no regret in killing that kid, and if I had the chance I'd rip another laser right through their **tINY liTTLe SkULL** **.** " he spoke with a sinister tone neither of them knew he could even hit.

And as sudden as the change happened the world seemed to gain light again, they noticed the candle on the wall above them flicker back to life. Misaka's heartbeat didn't seem loud again, and the glass he sat down no longer felt as if it were filled with the blood of his enemies.

"Heh heh heh. Gotcha, lighten up buckos. I've been working on my improv skills for a while now, how'd I do? Did I give you a spook?" Sans joked, his normal smile back onto his face as he laughed, "Frisk was a friend of mine and my brothers back in the town we used to live in called Snowdin. One day Frisk fell down while trying to… pick some flowers, and, even after looking for hours, disappeared without a trace past their footsteps in the flowerbed they fell in."

Misaka and Kuroko both sat dumbfounded at the boy in front of them, the image of Sans without eyes haunting the back of their minds. And his voice, what the hell was that about? Neither of them knew what to think of it all, yet at the same time had unconsciously come to the same conclusion.

Sans was Level 5 for a reason.

"That it for question time you two? I mean, I got us all lunch because I felt a little betrayed when the doctor told me you'd done something to me in my sleep. I just wanted to do something that would make all parties involved a little on ease." he explained, taking a sip of his drink; and finishing it in turn.

"Oh, I-I guess that makes a little sense…" Kuroko said to him in an attempt to sound honest, but sounding a bit more threatened instead. However, Sans seemed to buy the act as he led the rest of the conversations for the rest of the night's meal. Despite the showcase of his sinister side, the two ended up writing it off by the end of the night as just a joke by Sans.

Well, written off by one of the two at least. Misaka still didn't trust him, and it seemed that his new "joke powers" may be the key to finding out just who Frisk was, or even Doctor Gaster. Sans had some connection to this all, and she intended to find out. It's only a matter of time… but for now, she had dinner to eat.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

Jamie bounced the tennis ball through the room without care. Bounce being more of a loose term, as she was more using her power of telekinesis granted by the level upper than bouncing it anywhere. She had 'bounced' a tennis ball around her room normally before, yet this just seemed way more efficient. Yet another perk of being an Esper.

It was a school night, yet nothing seemed to quell the boredom she felt, hence why she was tossing the ball around. However it just didn't feel the same as it did before. She wanted the excitement of using her powers for mischief, the rush of adrenaline as she ran away from someone she had spilled coffee all over. Telekinesis was a wonderful thing, and so was the feeling of ruining someone's day.

No, this feeling, the feeling of thrill hunting. She wanted more, she wanted to go bigger if she was being totally honest with herself. She was an esper now and the world was her playground, Saten had showed her that yesterday at the park. Yes, anything she wanted she could have. It had been nothing but marvelous days since she listened to that song, and nothing could get in the way of the joy she felt.

It made her feel powerful, almost invincible. It was like a high that she couldn't back down from. It felt amazing and it empowered her to want to do more and be more.

The world was her oyster and no one could say otherwise.

Looking down at her hands, she watched her finger twitch. It had been doing that recently, ever since she had grown powerful enough to crush things with her telekinesis. That little twitch reminded her that there was more potential to what she could do, yes. She could get whatever she wanted! Even get brad to bend to her knees, even after he rejected her!

Yes! Showing him how worthless he was compared to an esper would put him in his place. Oooooh yes, power. She never imagined this is what being an esper would be like, and the dreams of making the world a better place as an esper seemed like a childish dream in hindsight now.

Yes, with all of this _**power**_ **,** what wa **s t** _ **he**_ _wo_ **rl** d to do about _**i**_ t? What would even stand in her way if she _**went on A RA**_ mpa _g_ _ **e?**_ W **ho** would stop he-

The tennis ball she had been tossing around hit the floor, her telekinesis no longer working. She blinked a few times and tried to pick it up again only to fail. She got up and picked the ball off of the floor. She tried to do it like she did when she first unlocked her potential, her fingers curling around the ball in an attempt to will it back into the air. Nothing.

She tried again, yet still the same outcome. The source of power she had come to love so much had been shut off, maybe she needed to listen to the Level Upper again?

Jamie walked away from her place where she picked up the ball and hastily grabbed her jacket from the lamp post in the corner of the room. She was in a hurry to return to Saten to use the device again to regain her powers. She didn't care what hour it was, she _needed_ them if she was going to feel goo-

" _Stop."_ a voice said, her body freezing up and going stiff to the point of no longer being able to move. Her hand was still wrapped around her jacket, tennis ball in the other, yet she couldn't find the strength to move even a single finger. It was as if she had been frozen in time, and like all frozen people eventually are… she made eye contact with her captor.

A hand grasped her shoulder, one that felt cursed and cold. It turned her body around, and she saw _it_. A darkened shade of a mystery man, his face hidden under the shadow that clung to him like an aura. He wore no hat, yet his head held no hair. He seemingly wore a black robe of some sort that was drenched in a black ooze. Drips of it could be seen coming off of him onto the floor. Jamie stared at it in horror, what kind of monster was this demon? Then, it spoke.

" _I apologize for this in advance. I had no original intentions to harm you human, but you would have gotten in the way."_ it spoke, glaring down at an open palm. A hole could been seen right in the middle of the palm that went all the way through, taking up most of the hand. It must have been really difficult to pick up anything with those.

Jamie tried to speak up to the man, yet she found that she couldn't move her vocal cords either. Nothing would move, and it was a miracle she was even still breathing. What had she done to anger this… thing, anyways?

" _Your LOVE was growing too fast."_ it told her, answering her questions, yet leaving her to wonder what LOVE had to do with anything, " _I had no choice but to… cleanse your palette before you did something_ _ **I'd**_ _regret. I'd ask if you would like to pray to any deity you believe in, but I'll go ahead and inform you… there's nothing but black on the other side."_ it said whilst clenching his hand slightly, causing a tightening feeling around her stiff and frozen chest.

" _I am the man."_ it said alowed, as if rehearsing something, " _I am the man who speaks to Sans. I am the man who speaks with sands."_ it began to pick up pace as if chanting, her chest feeling as if it were going to explode from the pressure, " _I am the m_ _ **an wh**_ _o leaps in man. I am the_ _ **man with carefu**_ _l hands. I am the man who speaks in hands_ _ **. I AM THE MAN WHO BEATS THE LAMBS.**_ "

It clenched its hand fully, and Jamie felt something inside her go ' _POP_!'

Her world fell into motion again, yet now the piece of Gaster knew that his prey would show no resistance given her new freedom. After all, it's hard to move when your heart is currently exploded onto at least three other major arteries and organs isn't it?

Her limp body fell to the ground, no mess to be cleaned whatsoever, as it was all internal. It was the perfect crime, it was a shame not all Justice could be so flawless. Luckily, this girl had no fight in her and was nothing but a catalyst for others use. That's what his soul told him.

Suddenly the beast looked up from the corpse, up towards the ceiling. He seemed to be looking at something… or someone.

" _Hmm. You're all here too huh? Interesting. These next tests will be… very… very.. Interesting. Leave me, as I know you will return later anyways. I wish not to be bothered."_

And everything went black.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXxX**_

 _ **Catalog of Discovered Abilities:**_

 _ **Gaster Blaster (Ability): Snommus a lluks deubmi htiw lacigam ytiliba. Eht swaj nac eb nees gnippop trapa sa yeht eraperp ot egrahcsid eht cigam nihtiw. Lufrewop hguone ot tuc hguorht neve eht tsekciht fo sleets. Tniop fo nigiro nwonknu. Rehtruf hcraeser deriuqer.**_

 _ **Judgement (Passive): Eht ytiliba ot daer a s'nosrep EVOL dna PXE.**_

 _ **Judgement Eye (Ability): Yb gnisucof no a s'nosrep dnim eht resu nac ees sdrahs fo a s'nosrep tsap. Ton hguone ot wonk rieht tsap, tub lufesu nehw gnideen llas stib fo noitamrofni ro gninetaerht. Uoy nac llet nehw siht lliks si desu nehw eht s'resu hceeps smees ot… rewol. S'taht yllacipyt eht esac.**_

 _ **Shadow Eye (Ability): Yeht yas eht seye eht wodniw ot eht LUOS. Eht resu swonk yltnereffid, sa yeht nac ekam srieht raeppasid no dnammoc. On edis stceffe ro lacisyhp stceffe, doog rof gninetaerht. Depoleved yb em, Rotcod Gnidgniw Retsag.**_

 _ **Shortcut (Ability): Snas si elba ot tropelet pu ot 005 Selim yawa fi eht nwonk X dna Y setanidrooc era tneserp. Revewoh, tuohtiw a erutcip fo eht noitacol eh tonnac esoohc eht edutitla fo sih tropelet. Tuohtiw a erutcip eh lliw SYAWLA dnal nopu eht tsehgih dnal ssam eh nac yllacisyhp retne. (Xe. Potfoor) TSUM eb detaerc ni a wodahs.**_

 _ **Time Slow (S Ability): A evom ton ot eb nekat ylthgil. Ti nac wols, ro neve ezeerf emit. Revewoh, taerg rewop semoc htiw taerg ytilibisnopser. Ti si a ROJAM (sa dekram yb eht "S") ytiliba, dna spas esnemmi stnuoma fo lacigam ygrene. Eht erom ygrene taht si detibihorp yb siht ytiliba, eht erom lacigam ygrene deppas. Ton dednemmocer rof elttab, yllaicepse eno htiw hgih ygrene yrnopaew. Dluoc evah neeb erom lufsseccus, tub defren ni raef fo noilleber retfa evissecxe stset.**_

 _ **Voice Distortion (Ability): Hcum ekil eht wodahs eye ytiliba, siht si a yaw ot etadimitni ruoy tnenoppo. Derevocsid ta noitaerc, S1 dna S2 erew dnuof ot esu siht ot klat erofeb gnitcefrep egaugnal sa a elohw. Tcefrep rof gniralced eht etats fo eht dlrow morf a yawllah.**_


	13. Girl Named Regia

**Jeez me and schedules aren't doing to good right now.**

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXxX**_

This is the story of a girl named Regia.

Born in the wake of the Esper outbreak, Regia was a girl no different than anyone else. She was birthed in a hospital, cared for by her mother, and given a house above her head like any other child born in Japan.

At only year one, her parents became worried of the infant's survival. The mother became eloped in her own sorrows as Regia fell ill once again. It seemed their newest addition to the family was very prone to sickness and was overly frail in comparison to the other children they had seen. Regia's survival seemed to be in peril.

Weeks passed and the illness's came and went as did the pills and doctors. It was no secret to why the infant couldn't catch a break, she had an immune system deficiency. It was of no fault of her own of course, it was just genetics. The doctors didn't expect her to survive the year at the rate she was catching the diseases and producing white blood cells to defeat them.

...but still the girl stayed determined. She soldiered on as the war in her cell's festered and thrived. More pills, more doctors, and more treatments.

Then one day, everything stopped. The girl held a sudden immunity in her system, deep within her core. It baffled doctors, and upon further research it was deduced the phenomenon was a result of a dormant Esper ability that had been awoken inside of her. No one could explain the sudden awakening of such powers, and in the end it was chalked up to the will of god.

A few years passed, and all seemed well for the little girl. She was a healthy little girl, age 5, who showed intellect far past her own age. She was without a doubt a lucky girl with a bright future and a guardian angel watching over her… well that was until her 6th birthday, where she fell into a coma.

Doctors scrambled into order, immediately putting her into the intensive care unit, aka the ICU. This girl held a power of healing, and for her to die might set back possible medical discoveries and breakthroughs by years. It became a top priority to the state, and the girl was sent to the top hospital in the land: Academy City.

Academy City, land of science and human advancement. It showed what we were capable of as humans, and what boundaries we faced as a society. Marveled across the world as a beacon of pride, yet a holder of some of the world's most taboo experiments.

...

This is the story of a girl named Regia.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

 **Chapter 13: Girl Named Regia**

" _Doc, she's waking!"_ a voice called out in the darkness. It echoed around the space and seemed to beckon a greater cause, " _Doc! Heart rate increasing! She's gaining consciousness!"_ she called out, the sound of scuttling and footsteps joining into the symphony of noises that were becoming her world.

" _Give her a half dosage of_ _Benzodiazepine, and if that doesn't calm her down go a full dosage of triazolam."_ another voice said, Regia opening her eyes for the first time in four months. Her eyelids parted open, a blinding white light entering her vision; sparing her from the sight of various doctors pinning her to the lab table.

"..Where a-am...I?" Regia spoke, feeling a pair of hands force her eyelids back down, putting her back into the darkness. A sharp pain entered into her arm as the doctor injected the drugs into her system, the feeling of cold latex clad hands becoming more prominent than they had liked.

"No! Please!" Regia called out in panic, realizing very quickly that she was about to be put to sleep. The doctor's seemed to ignore her calls however, and yet another needle went into her other arm making the world begin to fade, "No! I don't want to...go to sleep! ...Pleas..e…. d..o.n...t…"

Regia's world fell back to black.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

Regia rolled over, her first order to her body consciously in a long time. She didn't even know she had done it, not yet at least. She was still waking up, and this time a new voice was present to call for a doctor.

" _Doctor, she's waking up!"_ a voice called out, the gender of the voice unknown. Regia began to become aware of her new stream of consciousness, and found herself awake once again. Her eyes opened up to a bright white light and a sense of deja vu, but at her side this time was a familiar face. She recognized it almost immediately after her eye's adjusted to the fluorescent lights that lined the ceiling.

"Mom?" Regia called out, her hand shakily reaching towards the figure of the worried mother on the bedside. The mother reached out and grasped the weak hand, squeezing it tight. For almost a year now her only daughter had been under the eyes of wicked people who had tested on her dormant body. They tried so many different ways to discover how her esper powers worked for medicinal purposes, yet ultimately failed before the project was shut down.

Tears of joy ran down her mother's face, and Regia had no idea why. Clearly something bad had happened while she was sleeping, but she couldn't quite process it yet. The drugs in her system were still too strong to let her put together the cold reality of the situation. The reality that was Regia Coldwell had been used.

Regia's mother bawled her eyes out on the bedside until the doctors came into the room to tell her visiting hours were over. The mother reasoned with the doctors in some attempt to be allowed to stay, yet was ultimately forced to leave. Once again, Regia was left alone and in the dark as the lights went out in the room. Just her and her thoughts, not a thing to be spoken or seen.

Well, that was until she heard a noise.

 _*Cough*_ she heard somewhere in the darkened room. The seven year old pulled the blanket up to her chin, hoping that whatever it was would go away. _*Cough* *Sniiiiiffffff!*_ the noises continued, Regia becoming aware that it was the coughing and crying of someone else in the room, "H-hello?" she called out into the room. The sniffling stopped.

"Hi." a voice answered, the location of the person unknown, "Where are you?" the voice asked, apparently just as confused as Regia was. The room was completely dark however, and she had no way to inform the other person of where she was.

"We're in a hospital, other than that I-I don't know…" Regia answered as best she could, waiting for a response from her new roommate.

"O-oh. Okay. My name's Frisk, what's yours?" they called out, giving Regia a question she could answer.

Regia pushed the covers off of herself slightly as she rolled over, "Mine's Regia. Nice to meet you Frisk." she answered, "Where are you from?"

"I'm from a town far east called Ebott. What about you?" Frisk answered, the sound of scuffling coming from what had to be their bed. Regia couldn't help but wonder what Frisk even looked like.

"A town called Doro, it's literally Japanese for dirt." Regia giggled, causing Frisk to laugh in response, "What are you in a hospital for Frisk?" she asked, hoping that it wasn't too soon to ask such a question.

The silence that followed the question only helped to further Regia's weariness, "H-hey sorry about asking so so-"

"Muscular Dystrophy." Frisk answered mid-sentence, "I-It's a disease where you lose control of your muscles. None of the treatments were working so they moved me here until I could be taken back home…" Frisk explained, a hint of sadness in their voice, "I overheard that a Level 5 named Misaka gave her DNA map to try and help cure it… but the doctors think it will be too late by then."

A wave of sadness fell over Regia, if only she could give her healing powers to others then this wouldn't have to end this way, "O-oh.. I'm sorry to hear that.." Regia stuttered, wishing to whatever guardian angel that they could help Frisk find the strength to move one day again. Even if it were only for a little while..

Silence fell over the room again, even Frisk's coughing couldn't fill the void of emptiness that sat between them. If only Regia knew what would become of Frisk. How they would return home and attempt to commit suicide as even their basic motor skills began to cease functionality. How they would attempt to kill themself by traveling up the cursed Mount Ebott before losing all control. How could she have known?

At least Frisk served one purpose in this world, and that was giving Regia the determination she needed to master the Esper ability of healing. An ability the world wouldn't see in action for the sake of others for the next five years.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

Academy City, land of science and human advancement. It showed what we were capable of as humans, and what boundaries we faced as a society. Marveled across the world as a beacon of pride, yet a holder of some of the world's most taboo experiments.

...

In the years following her release from Academy City, Regia decided to study as a nurse to help patients. Her ability wasn't strong enough that she could cure people or seal their wounds, but at least she could offer some form of relief. That alone was more than welcome in the clinic she practically began to live in since her mother passed away, as her father had become quite… abusive.

She slowly began to adapt a new name, one different from Regia. The patients began to call her, "Angelica." a name that they said accurately portrayed the way they felt about her: Like an angel sent to guide them.

And guide them she did, as she went onto the age of sixteen with quite the resume of over two thousand lives saved. Her constant practice with her ability had made her way to the impressive label of Level 4, which was quite the achievement for a non-hostile Esper. She had almost gotten to the point where she could cure the common cold without breaking a sweat!

This progress didn't break her humble personality though, and she was never far from her best friend Yukoi. The two of them both strove to be nurses for the greater good, even if Yukoi wasn't even an esper.

However, all good things must come to an end. Even though she had done all of this for the world, it seemed her fate was destined.

...

This is the story of the death of Regia.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

"Hey Miss Angelica! Do you have a second please?" a woman called to Regia, pulling the girl's attention from her computer screen. Regia looked at the woman, noticing a small little boy with flowers in his arms. The flowers were vibrant colors of red and yellow, and the plastic wrapping signified they were bought; recently too.

Regia stood up and walked around her desk to the mother and her son, a smile welling up onto Angelica's face as the little boy thrusted the flowers out towards her, "Hwere wo gow Miss Angwewica!" the boy told her, a smile beaming from his face. She smiled at him and ruffled his hair a little bit before accepting the gift.

"He bought them with his own allowance he made off of chores at home instead of getting this new toy he was looking at. He really appreciates what you did for him back then." his mother explained to Regia, showing her pride in her son's decision to use the money he earned that way.

"Awww thank you!" Regia told the child, using her free arm to hug the little boy. After Regia stood up again, the mother looked down at her son again to see his cute little expression. The poor soul was blushing.

Laughing, the mother picked up her son and waved at the teenager, "Say goodbye to Miss Angelica!" she told her son, walking towards the door to leave.

"Bwye Miss Angwewica!" he called to her, making her giggle a bit. She happily waved them goodbye as they shut the door behind them.

Now, with that covered she could get some work done, and maybe even find a vase for these flowers sometime between patients. Depends on how much time she had after her visit to the sick ward, there was no way she'd be rushing tha-

 _*Ring Ring!*_ she heard her desk phone go off, causing her to sit the flowers on the desk so she could grab the phone with her dominant hand, "Hello? Angelica here." she called into the phone, hoping it wasn't an emergency with the Fosters on the third floor.

"Um.. hi. We're looking for Miss Regia, do you perhaps know where she's at?" the voice called, apparently unaware of the fact she had a nickname.

"Oh! Sorry, this is Regia. My nickname's Angelica and tha...t… uh... sorry, what did you need?" she answered the man, her focus being taken away by the distractingly red flowers on the table. They couldn't have been that expensive, right?

"I'm sorry to tell you this, but you may need to grab a seat if possible." the man said, pausing for a moment to allow her to grab a chair and sit down; which she didn't, "We need you to come to the Academy City clinic as soon as possible. Your father has been diagnosed with cancer."

She should have grabbed a chair.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXxXx**_

"You've got to be joking right?" Yukoi asked Regia from the passenger seat. She seemed worried for her esper friend, yet still followed her without haste when Regia told her the plan, "You don't seriously plan on dealing with Skill Out right?"

Regia took another turn, heading deeper into Skill Out territory, "I don't have a choice. If I want to be strong enough to heal my dad in time, I'll need the Level Upper." she told her friend flatly, knowing what her response would be.

"The man BEAT YOU, Regia! Why are you trying so hard to save his life?" Yukoi asked, bringing up the sour subject that was rarely talked about between the two of them. Whenever that topic came up in conversation, you knew it was a serious one.

"My father gave birth to me, and he paid for all the medical bills I had as a kid. I owe him this much, regardless of what he did after mom died." she explained to Yukoi before slowing down the vehicle in one of the old alleyways where the deal was supposed to go down, "I need this if I'm going to save his life. I can't just sit around, I have to help him."

Yukoi rubbed her fingers together, her eyes shut in concentration as she pondered what the right course of action would be at this point. After a moment of thought, she answered, "Fine! W-we'll do it, but the moment things start to get sketchy we're getting out of here!" she concluded, giving Regia an inward celebration that she would have the support of her closest friend.

That decided and sorted out, now they were forced to wait. And wait they did, sitting in that alley way for almost an hour before any signs of life arrived. When it finally did, it came in the form of bright headlights pulling into the opposite side of the alleyway, causing Regia to pull her friend awake from her slumber on the car door.

"They're here." Regia told her friend as the car rolled up to them. It came to a stop just meters away from their car, "I'm getting out, stay in the car and don't get out if anything fishy happens. One kidnapping is better than two." she explained as the healer exited the car, shutting it behind them as they walked towards the new vehicle.

The headlights shone brightly in the alley way, bringing light to every stain on the walls. It wasn't until she got closer was she able to notice the blood running down the window and onto the ground though, and by then it was too late. Whoever was in that car was dead, and in this realization she began to freeze up in fear.

This wasn't worth it, she could just tra- no what was she saying? She needed what they had if she was going to heal her father and make everything ri-

" _I'll allow you one minute to say your prayers before I take your life."_ a voice called from somewhere in the alleyway, its voice coming from seemingly everywhere, " _That's longer than your friend in the car got."_

Panicked, Regia looked back to her car quickly only to find a red smear across the inside window. Oh god, this guy really killed her didn't he? She looked around frantically for the source of the voice, "Who are you?!"

" _These are your last words you choose to say? A trivial question such as that one? I expected more from you human."_ the voice said, revealing itself from behind the car as a man in all black wearing a fedora, " _I'm Doctor Gaster."_ he said sarcastically, the sound of knuckles popping as he balled his gloved hands into fists.

Regia fell to her knees and began to cry, knowing that if she ran the man would kill her anyways. There was no escape from this, was there? Turning her back to this figure would surely result in death, and no one would hear her scream if she called for help.

" _You've had great patience this life, something I can relate to."_ the man told her as he walked closer, " _However this is the end of the road. Your choice to connect with the Level Upper network would have given memories of Frisk to Saten and forced Sans into a path of Genocide. I however, cannot allow that to happen. I'm not sorry Miss Regia…. you must die."_

Tears fell from Regia's face as she held her head low, she had heard that voice from her father's beatings before. That was the voice that couldn't be stopped no matter how much you reasoned or begged. At least this way she would get a quick death hopefully.

" _I am the man."_ it said aloud as it came closer, " _I am the man who speaks to Sans. I am the man who speaks with sands."_ it began to pick up pace as if chanting, only making Regia more scared. What had she done to deserve and ending like this? She only hoped that someone she saved would end up better off.

" _I am the m_ _ **an wh**_ _o leaps in man. I am the_ _ **man with carefu**_ _l hands."_ he continued, raising his fist into the air as a crackle of energy began to fill the area, " _I am the_ _ **man wh**_ _o beat_ _ **s the**_ _lambs._ _ **I AM THE MAN WHO SPEAKS IN HANDS!**_ "

And the Gaster Blaster he created released, and all of the energy inside of the beam disintegrated the girl's upper body into a pile of mush. Her story was over.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

This progress didn't break her humble personality though, and she was never far from her best friend Yukoi. The two of them both strove to be nurses for the greater good, even if Yukoi wasn't even an esper.

However, all good things must come to an end. Even though she had done all of this for the world, it seemed her fate was destined.

…

I knew it had to be this way, it was the only way to save the city in the end. Had I let her go, she would have come to the conclusion she still needed the Level Upper and tried again. Her loyalty to her family was her undoing, and she knew it in the end.

For now, keeping Sans alive until the main fragment of myself can be found is our objective. The five of us are working hard and keeping an eye out. All we want is to be whole again, and when that day comes, the humans better watch out. We won't make the same mistake twice.

~Signed, Doctor W.D. Gaster, "The Story of a Girl Named Regia"

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXxX**_

 **No direct Sans in here this chapter, as I felt some didn't get the full effect of the murder by the other Gaster. I should also mention this: Each Gaster IS connected to each other, and the puzzle isn't too hard to solve. I've left all of the pieces to how they're all connected in the two segments that contain them respectively.**

 **I'm willing to chalk it up to the delayed chapter upload, but I was kinda disappointed by the lack of reviews to the last chapter. I couldn't really tell if anyone liked it or not spare the whopping 7 of you who reviewed post update. (13 including pre-update, 6 of you reviewed when the chapter delayed message came up) I'm just a little worried on how you guys liked it or not. Was it too edgy? Did it feel rushed? Some people have different preferences on such, and this chapter is a result of that uncertainty I had over the previous chapter. I'm just assuming you guys and gal's enjoyed it, so I'll keep the current formula for now unless you guys think I should change it a bit by making it a little slower or more build up. Feel free to PM me if you don't wanna put it in a review either. (Also wanted to add the part about the secrets from last chapter. Has anyone spotted it yet?)**

 **I should also _add_ that I went and saw Logan this Saturday, so this chapter was heavily influenced by my after effect of that movie. No spoilers of course, but I loved it. Just uh… for any of you bringing your kids or asking your parents… there's and random nudity scene that comes out of nowhere.**

 **Oh, and I should also clarify I'm not angry about the reviews or anything. I'm just worried that I'm not producing the story you guys are looking for and that's the reason for the lack there of reviews.**

 **Oh and special thanks to those reading all of this…. you must die. (Sorry if you have no idea what that joke is from.)**

 **Thank you all to those of you reading, and feels good to be back on Sunday schedule! Have a nice day everyone!**

 _ **Edit: Review for faster upload is 215.**_

 _ **Catalog of Discovered Abilities:**_

 _ **Gaster Blaster (Ability): Summons a skull imbued with magical ability. The jaws can be seen popping apart as they prepare to discharge the magic within. Powerful enough to cut through even the thickest of steels. Point of origin unknown. Further research required.**_

 _ **Judgement (Passive): The ability to read a person's LOVE and EXP.**_

 _ **Judgement Eye (Ability): By focusing on a person's mind the user can see shards of a person's past. Not enough to know their past, but useful when needing small bits of information or threatening. You can tell when this skill is used when the user's speech seems to… lower. That's typically the case.**_

 _ **Shadow Eye (Ability): They say the eyes are the window to the SOUL. The user knows differently, as they can make theirs disappear on command. No side effects or physical effects, good for threatening. DeveLopeD bY**_ _ **ERRoR/?**_

 _ **Shortcut (Ability): Sans is able to teleport up to 500 Miles away if the known X and Y coordinates are present. However, without a picture of the location he cannot choose the altitude of his teleport. Without a picture he will ALWAYS land upon the highest land mass he can physically enter. (Ex. Rooftop) MUST be created in a shadow.**_

 _ **Time Slow (S Ability): A move not to be taken lightly. It can slow, or even freeze time. However, great power comes with great responsibility. It is a MAJOR (as marked by the "S") ability, and saps immense amounts of magical energy. The more energy that is prohibited by this ability, the more magical energy sapped. Not recommended for battle, especially one with high energy weaponry.**_

 _ **Voice Distortion (Ability): Much like the Shadow Eye ability, this is a way to intimidate your opponent. It gives Sans the ability to make his voice gain an echo and produce a hollow sound. Perfect for declaring the state of the world from a hallway.**_


	14. A Promise to a Friend

**The next upload will be on Sunday. However, no review for faster chapter this week. The ARK finale will be next** **Wednesday's** **upload, or maybe the one after that. It depends on how I want the size of the chapter to be. Sorry for the wait!**

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXxX**_

Chapter 14: A Promise to a Friend

He sat in the darkness of the warehouse, the metallic fans spinning overhead. The moonlight gave the room an eerie blue glow, almost making the empty room feel cold. Cold… it was more a feeling to him than a temperature after his time in the void. Everything had gone numb in there, everything had lost meaning in there. It was a miracle he didn't classify himself as insane.

The more he looked at it, the more Gaster couldn't fathom why anyone would build a structure such as this warehouse, and then abandon it. What was the point of construction if it were bound to no purpose? Why bother still powering the facility if it had no further use? Even more, why power a building meant for storage in the first place?

A headache flashed through his mind as he began to overthink things. A curse of being broken was the pain that followed even into the depths of your self conscious. Thinking back to the warehouse, it's not like one can understand human nature anyways, their rash and violent nature is one that will scorn a mind until they die and corrupt even the most innocent of thoughts.

Shaking his thoughts away into the back of his mind, he watched the door on the opposite side of the room open as the figure he desired enter the room. The target wore a black t-shirt and dark jeans, a strange facade for someone trying to keep a low profile and hide the scars of black that marred his arms and legs. No one could know the damage the void did, they might find us weak.

" _Void Gaster, you actually showed up?_ " the target said as he approached, his combat boots making scuff marks on the dust clad floor, " _Glad to see the man still has some respect for his alter-egos."_

'Void' Gaster turned to look at his target: the man speaking. " _You're not an alter ego, you're a fragment. You of all people should know wordplay is… critical. What do you want?'_ Void Gaster asked his 'fragment'. Hopefully this wouldn't take too long, he had plans tonight that couldn't be interrupted by anyone else; even himself.

" _We have a plan to get Sans to accept his Personal Reality. Something that might send him past LV One finally and into a state worthy of vengeance."_ the fragment explained, ' _We want the help of The Man: you.'_

Void Gaster's face had no skin left on it, but had there been there an observer they could have sworn that it smiled. Or at least smirked, " _Answer me this, are you Bravery or Perseverance? Because you must either be brave or stubborn if you're willing to interrupt my plan I've set into motion. Do you not think I'm aware of the murders you and your little crew have been pulling?"_

Fragment was taken aback, how could Void Gaster have known about their missions in the night? They had checked for any witnesses… there's no way someone could have snitched….

" _Your silence tells me what I need to know. Cease the serial killings on Level Upper users, you may continue whatever course of action you wish if my plan fails. Until then however, I do not wish to see the likes of you or any of the other five fragments in Academy City again."_ Void Gaster commanded, his fragment nodding obediently without as much muttering a word of defiance.

The fragment then turned around and made his way towards the doorway to which he entered in, turning to look back only when he opened the door to the outside, " _This world is full of stronger humans than you think Void Gaster. We both know that. We will be in the South when you need us."_ The fragment said as he walked outside, and out of view. The door shut with a satisfying 'thud' as he left.

With him gone, Void Gaster let out the breath he had been subconsciously holding. It seemed his fragments held some sort of respect towards him. He had no idea why this was, but the fact he didn't have to fight would save him the time needed for recovery. Overall, it couldn't have gone smoother if he had to say so himself.

"I must say Gaster, you're quite impressive on dealing with your duplicates. It almost makes me wonder if you've done this before." a voice called from behind him, feminine in tone yet not mysterious in the slightest. He had been expecting this particular human, and she was a few minutes early.

" _Says the woman who got her fortune from a father who scammed his money and fame from the darkest shadows in Academy City."_ Gaster turned to her, his yellow beady eyes staring towards his only human accomplice. The only reason he kept her alive was because even mad scientists needed someone to rely on now and then.

The lady stepped forwards, her high heels clacking on the floor as she neared closer, "Ahahaha. No need to be so hostile Doctor." she told him, pulling out an empty syringe from behind her back, "I've already given the girls their treatment for tonight. Even though it was the smaller ones first time she seemed to accept it without a problem."

Gaster watched in disgust as the woman attempt to seduce him, placing her hand on his chest and flaunting a smile up towards his head…. Which is easier said than done for a man who stood nearly seven feet tall. " _You take me for a sex driven ape, and that's why your endeavour is failing."_ The ghostly skeleton told his assailant, looking down at her wrist with a hidden rage, " _I would remove it before I remove it from your body."_

She pulled her arm away in distaste, "You're no fun Gaster. It's okay though, I forgive you. I need to go meet with Harumi anyways, at least she plays nice."

The fragmented man watched as the girl detached herself from his frame, then turned and walk from whatever exit she entered from. The syringe on the floor where she stood previously, a slight yellow tint to it from the previous contents. It would no longer serve it's purpose, a perfect parallel to how he felt about this particular human.

She took a moment to gain her composure before she left the door. Couldn't go out in public tricking people if she played the innocent card all the time now could she?

" _I never claimed to play nice, Ms. Austin."_

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

"What do you think Kuroko?" a voice interrogated the teleporter, snapping her out of the daydreams of what she would do to her beloved sissy.

"Huh? Me?" Kuroko asked, wide eyed and worried that she had missed something. She was never one to fall asleep in class, but with all the extra work she had been putting in with the Level Upper case and now the murder cases… sleep wasn't top priority. Luckily, it was her friends she talked to in class gathered around her instead of the teacher.

"Rukii wanted your opinion on if she should ask Ariel out or not!" Lokrine informed Shirai, "Should she?"

Kuroko sat up in her desk fully, looking at the trio in front of her: Potampi, Lokrine, and Rukii, "Hmm.. Sans is more of a lone wolf type. I don't know if he's even into women, let alone if he's into you." she answered with a sigh, staring out the window of the classroom at the skyline that shimmered in the sunlight.

This time Potampi was the one to speak up, "What?! We see him talking with Railgun all the time! They're both Level Five's too, they're a match made in heaven!" she exclaimed, causing her two dark haired friends to nod in agreement.

Normally Shirai would have blushed madly at the thought that her 'innocent railgun' could have been corrupted by the likes of a man, yet here she was shrugging it off. There was absolutely no way that Sans had the hots for Misaka, their meeting at The West End proved that much. After all, if he did like Misaka he would have already tried to make a move, right?

"There's a rumor going around that they're already dating, but don't tell anyone!" Rukii brought up to further the idea that Misaka and Sans could possibly be a thing. Kuroko began to twitch a little bit at the thought. There was no way that Misaka wouldn't tell her about that right? No, no that couldn't happen! Misaka has a grudge against Sans, so why on earth would she date him!

Calm and collected again, Kuroko found herself slumping back into her seat with heavy eyelids. The classroom really did have a knack for making someone sleepy. She could really use a few more Z's…

"I bet they go out at night! That would explain why people see him out in the alleyways past curfew…" Lokrine theorized, wondering how Misaka could have possibly managed to get past the Dorm Supervisor. Perhaps she had managed to pay her off?

However for Kuroko, this was new news. How long had Sans been going out at night? "Wait, Sans goes out at night?" Kuroko asked with a light urgency in her voice, bringing a slightly tense feel to the air around the quad. The standing trio glanced at each other as if trying to decide if they should tell her, and then in an unanimous decision Rukii spoke up.

"Yeah… we saw him walk out of an alleyway near the cafe when we went to a friends dorm for the night. They say he goes out that way every Friday night, yet no one ever knows where he goes." Rukii explained, giving way for one of her friends to speak up as well and add to the new development.

"Oh and he was also out last night!" Potampi added, "I was out after curfew when I lost track of time, and then I saw him making his way down to the river." she informed Shirai, causing the gears to start turning in the teleporter's head.

If Sans was seen last night, there was a possibility he could be responsible for the death of Regia Coldwell. She had been a nurse down at the Academy City Clinic after her father was diagnosed with cancer, and her death was a shock to everyone who knew her. The only hint to who caused the murder of Regia Coldwell, Yukoi Neverwinted, and seven members of Skill Out was the scorched hole that went straight through all of their heads. It was almost like a laser...

And who was not only out and about that night, but also holds the ability to project lasers?

Without sounding a word to her friends, Shirai flipped out her phone and sent a text to her dearest sissy. She had to make sure that Sans was the killer before she called Antiskill, and to do that a certain scientific railgun would be needed….

The text read as follows:

" _I have a lead on those murders. I need you to meet outside the cafe at nine."_

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXxXx**_

"Just another cat." Misaka told her perverted friend as she ducked back inside the metal trash bin the two had been cramped inside for over two hours now. Apparently Sans came from the alleyway every Friday night, but Shirai didn't bother to ask at what time like an idiot. However, one might say that Kuroko could care less about how long they waited. After all her body was so close to her beloved Sissy, but being in a metal trashcan she dared not make a move.

Electricity _was_ a great deterrent.

"You ever gonna explain to me why you think Sans is the murderer?" Misaka questioned, moving around trying to get comfortable in her half of the cramped space.

"The murderer uses an ability or weapon that can put a hole in a head big enough to put an arm through. That plus the fact the wound was cauterized immediately leads me to believe that it is in fact the same laser that Sans used back in the mall. No one else has an ability like that except a Level 5 known as 'The Meltdowner'" Shirai explained her thoughts, "Oh, and they've decided to call his laser the Hyperbeam. Just a little fun fact."

…

Silence filled the trash can again, and the two waited in that silence for Sans arrival. Little did they know it would be a whopping hour later before they came across their desired target. And when he came, it wasn't obvious to how he got there. He just kinda… appeared. In a dead end alleyway. Neither of them were sure how he got there.

Peaking out of the trashcan, not saying a word to make sure their hiding spot wasn't compromised, Misaka spotted the pale teen walking out of the alleyway with his hands shoved deep into his pockets. He didn't seem to notice the head peaking out of the trashcan, but he also didn't even bother looking that way. Probably lost deep in thought.

Misaka looked down at Kuroko and nodded, pointing up at a rooftop a few meters away. Kuroko nodded back in response and grabbed her sissy's ankle, taking a guess on which rooftop would be the best to land on.

Without a sound the two found themselves no longer confined by the metal bin. They could finally move around and stretch, but decided not to since they had to watch Sans carefully. Speaking of him, it seemed as if he had no clue he was being tailed still and took a sharp turn downtown and towards the bridge which wasn't but two block away. Looks like they might catch a glimpse of why he was here the other day.

Misaka's attention on the boy was taken away as she felt something nudge her shoulder. It was Kuroko, and when she looked over the teleporter was pointing to fire escape that they could go to across the way to get a closer look. Misaka nodded in response, still being as silent as possible to ensure they wouldn't get caught.

The two teleported again, landing precisely onto the fire escape without making a noise. Sans was still just walking down the street to his destination: the river. So the girls in class had been right both times…As long as they weren't correct on Misaka and Sans being an item, everything would be fine.

Moments passed as the girls stalked him before Sans ran out of road to walk on and was forced onto the grass. Judging by Shirai's sudden grip on Misaka's wrist one could guess that he was about to leave sight, so they teleported down to the bridge support itself and waited nearby.

Looking around at their new surroundings, the girls were hidden in tall grass by the base columns of the bridge support. Across the way was the base of the bridge where a wall of concrete stood, and surprisingly enough a metal door too.

How had they missed _that_ before? It wasn't exactly their first time coming down to the river, maybe they had just overlooked it? Yeah, that was it. They had just managed to overlook it.

Sans appeared from the hillside, almost looking as if he was sleep walking, and walked up to the door. He looked at it for a moment, as if internally debating if it was worth opening. Four rhythmic taps on the door later though, and it swung open on command. Guess this place was where he went every Friday. At least that mystery was solved.

"I think this place is too easy to be spotted in. Should we wait it out here or go check out his house while he's gone? Shirai asked, already debating if it was worth lying in the grass all night if he wasn't going to do anything to prove his guilt.

Misaka rubbed her chin for a moment before replying, "Hm… Let's take a trip to Sans house."

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXxXx**_

"Geeze, does he have enough lights in here?" one of the two girls joked sarcastically as they stumbled around Sans room looking for a light, "There's gotta be a light switch around here somewhere…oh I think I found something. It's kinda squishy though…"

"e-eh-h-hh?" An arc of electricity could be seen for just a moment, yet not enough to illuminate anything past Misaka's flustered face as realization dawned, "EH?! YOU PERVERT!" the electromaster yelled as she zapped her perverted friend to the ground, the raw voltage being high enough to turn on the lights in the room.

The bright fluorescent light shone down on them from above, illuminating the living room they had teleported into. Misaka blinked a few times, only to look down and see her roommate down on the ground, toasted. What she gets for being a sick little perv anyways.

Now, what was she looking for again? Oh yeah, anything to incriminate Sans and prove he was the one behind the murders.

Misaka began looking around the room. Under the couch, in the fireplace, behind the tv, under the bed, anywhere she could think to look. Shirai did the same once she finally got off of the floor, yet even with both of them working together to search the premises… they couldn't find any sings of his guilt. Not a letter, not a picture, not even any evidence that Sans himself lived here. What gives?

"Have you checked the sink?" Kuroko asked as she replaced the welcome mat back in front of the entrance door, wondering if she should just start a stack for things she already looked at. Misaka only shook her head as she leaned back up from her position on the floor to check for loose flooring.

"Mhhm. What about the ash jar up there?" she questioned, pointing to the vase that sat in the corner. Shirai shook her head and walked over to it, grabbing the handles on the vase that was almost as tall as her, attempting to walk it over to the living room so she could see it under the light.

She heaved it up off the floor, panting as she did. "Man, this is... heavier…. t-than you think.." she stumbled out as she clumsily made her way to the center of the room, being careful to avoid upturned couch seats and overturned tables. Finally though, she landed it down and took off the lid.

Misaka got up and walked over to it, looking down inside of it to see just what she had expected from an ash jar… ashes. From who though, she had no idea, "Well… uh, you first?" Misaka offered, hoping she wouldn't have to stick her hands in someone's cremated ashes. In fact maybe it would be a better idea just to leave it be and not worry about it….

"Anything for Onee-sama!" Shirai cried out as if it were her battle cry, getting on her tiptoes so she could get to the bottom of the vase. The sight of her digging around it was quite funny after you got past the idea she was doing something incredibly morbid… and most likely illegal. Well, no harm if he never finds out right? "Feel anything?"

She shook her head, tongue stuck out of her mouth in focus, "Nothing besides o-ooohph!" Kuroko attempted to say before the ash jar fell over, sending ashes all over the floor, pillow cases, and other misc items that had been strewn about. Looking at the disaster that had been caused Shirai was only able to look to her sissy for forgiveness, "Oops…."

"Shoot!" Misaka called, grabbing the nearest disposable cloth to her so she could begin scrubbing before any kind of stain could set in. Not that it was her forte or anything, "Go get soap and baking soda! We can't let this stuff set in!" Misaka demanded as she attempted rubbing the ashes out of the rug with the red scarf she had found. Her efforts were proving to be unsuccessful, as the red scarf was just turning shades of grey instead. Not to mention the holes that were forming…

"Don't use that, use this!" Kuroko told her, snatching the red scarf away and giving her a sponge that worked much better. Kuroko then took the scarf over to the sink and began to hand wash it, hoping to get the ashes out of it. "Tip the jar back up whenever you're done with that."

Misaka continued scrubbing the cushions, working through them with astounding speed. It wasn't long before it looked as if nothing had happened… to the couches at least. The rug however would need to be vacuumed and re-emptied into the vase. This was one of those things that wouldn't be spoken of… ever.

"Kuroko! Come help me flip this couch back over!" Misaka called out after she replaced the heavy ash vase back into the corner. Kuroko walked over to her, scarf still in hand… and it definitely looked worse for wear.

"Stupid thing won't come out! I've already ripped this thing a few times now on accident, it's too fragile so if I rub it too hard I might rip it in half." she told Misaka, showing the grey and red scarf that was now riddled with holes and tears.

Misaka stood on one side of the couch while Kuroko threw the scarf over her shoulder before getting in position on the opposite side, "You don't think he would notice a missing scarf, right?" she asked as they sat the couch upright. It was just a scarf afterall, it's not like a replacement would be hard to find…

"Probably not. There was a vacuum in the closet right?" she asked as she made her way to the closet, Shirai making her way back to the kitchen to lay the heavily damaged scarf there. No point in wasting time on a lost cause right? "Nevermind, I found it."

Before Misaka could plug the vacuum in however, Shirai snapped her head over to the door as she heard footsteps coming down the hall, "He's here! Go go! Hide!" she called in a whispered yell, Misaka throwing the vacuum back into the closet and bolting over to Shirai who was currently sliding under the bed.

The footsteps became louder as Misaka dropped to her knees, then stomach to crawl under the bed. Her heart was racing, they should have known they overstayed their welcome here. But just as it seemed they might get caught, the footsteps could be heard continuing down the hallway. It looked like they were saved by the bell.

"Whew!" Shirai whispered to her senpa- I mean sissy, "That was a close call, what if it had actually been him? We didn't get to fi-"

Then the door opened up, and the girls fell silent. Apparently Sans _was_ indeed home, and just in time to see the gifts that had been left for him.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

Sans opened the door half expecting to see people in his room when he walked in. That was the only explanation for why he couldn't shortcut his way inside. Someone had to have turned the lights on and gotten rid of the shadow he always used.

However, when he walked inside nothing seemed amiss. Nothing looked different spare the single light that was on in the living room of his two room apartment. Whoever came didn't bother stealing any of the furniture or the TV, and who would anyways this place was basically a hotel. So that meant one thing…

Sans put on a fast walk as he made his way towards one of his most prised possessions. No, they couldn't have taken that.. Could they? Who would want _that_ of all things, unless they were just wanting to break his spirit. He had to make sure it was still okay.

He walked up to the windowsill and pulled up the small outlier that was there for internal decor. He peaked inside of the small hole and saw that it was indeed still there. "Whew, heh heh heh. Thought someone had gone off and stolen my _Cooking with Puns_ cookbook. One day I'll take the time to finish you… one day." he told himself, putting back the windowsill outlier.

Now, with that settled there wasn't anything of value in here that he was aware of. So whoever came must have been mighty disappointed when they fou-

No.

That couldn't be what he thought it was.

No.

No.

Sans made his way up to the sink, looking at the tattered and torn scarf he had made such an effort to keep in mint condition. Yet here it was.. Ruined. He was struggling to hold back the tears in his eyes.

"W-wh-wha… wwh-hy… why…." Sans spoke ever so softly as she held the bundle of fabric in his hands. "...why… why this of all things…" he said slightly louder, stroking the once fine fabric, letting the damp cloth rub against the tips of his fingers.

"..."

Tears began to stream down his face. Tears not about his own mortality, or his inescapable fate. Tears of sadness that his last reminder of his only brother was now destroyed. And he didn't just cry, he sobbed. Tears ran down his face and all he could do was clench his fist a little tighter and try to pull the cloth a little closer.

" _.i_ _ **swear**_ _papyrus…. i'll_ _ **get revenge on**_ _wh_ _oever did_ _this…_ _ **i will**_ _ **wIPe tHEm oFF ThE fACE oF tHE pLAnEt."**_ Sans swore as the tears rolled off of his face and onto the tattered scarf. " _t_ _ **heY'Ll nEvER kNOW hAPPIneSs**_ _ **aGaIn..**_ _**as long as i live. i promise you**_ _this, papyrus…. i swear."_

Sans was oblivious to the girls who hid under his bed, who watched the entire breakdown before teleporting outside as they should have done in the first place. Lucky for them though, they didn't see how dark his eyes were, or realize just how cold the room was. Worst of all, they didn't see the blue flame in his left eye that had flickered to life ever so subtly.

And Sans was right, the ones responsible for this would pay.

They would pay dearly.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXxXx**_

" _SANS!"_ Papyrus called out in shock as he saw his brother dressed up in his blue hoodie and blue jeans. Sans shrugged his shoulder at his brother, looking back at his brothers white T-shirt and red shorts. He even had matching red shoes.

"hey bro. you look nice, almost like you're planning to _surface_ the new you." Sans joked, laying the pun on his brother about the fact they were going to finally get to leave the lab and go up to visit the Underground for the first time.

"I KNOW RIGHT?! I WISH I COULD SAY THE SAME FOR YOU THOUGH… YOU LOOK LIKE YOU COULD USE SOMETHING A BIT DIFFERENT!" Papyrus informed him, turning around to dig through the pile of clothing Gaster had brought them, "NYEHEHE! TRY THESE ON FOR SIZE, BROTHER!"

Sans caught the pants in their flight as Papyrus tossed them over. They were shorts, black with a white stripe on them. He didn't have the heart to remind him Gaster said it would be cold where they were going.

Removing the jeans, Sans put on the shorts with the white line on either side. Looking down at himself, he knew it honestly couldn't look that bad. Maybe his brother had some style sense after all? "hey, try this." Sans called out, throwing a red pair of pants with a white stripe on the legs that matched his own at Papyrus.

"SANS. YOU'VE _GOT_ TO BE KIDDING ME." Papyrus chided him, looking down at the shorts Sans had chosen for him to wear. "THE PANTS I HAVE CHOSEN ARE OF THE UTMOST IMPORTANCE! IT CANNOT BE UNDERSTOOD BY SOMEONE OF YOUR FASHION STATURE, BUT I FORGIVE YOU SANS!"

"thanks pal." Sans replied in an attempt to make his brother feel better about himself. No need to fight it right? That's what they did for each other down here, they gave each other support even when it didn't matter. That's how they survived in this hellhole.

"HERE! THIS WILL COMPLETE MY ATTIRE!" Papyrus called over to Sans, showing him his final accessory: A simple red scarf. "NYHEHEHEHE!"

" _I highly advise against such a choice, S-2."_ Gaster warned Papyrus as he walked in the room to observe what his two subjects were doing. " _That material frays easily, and despite my warnings of the cold you chose that attire. That scarf may be the only thing that keeps your bones from chattering in the night. Pick again."_

Papyrus pulled the scarf closer to his neck in defense, oh boy he had already become attached to it, "NO! I WILL NOT GIVE IT UP SO EASILY! ME AND SANS WILL KEEP IT PROTECTED, ISN'T THAT RIGHT SANS?" Papyrus fought back, looking at Sans for confirmation. Sans nodded in reassurance.

"i'll make sure he takes good care of it. just let him keep it." Sans told the scientist, attempting to persuade him. To his surprise, he didn't bother to retaliate with any kind of science mumbo-jumbo. He instead just left the room.

" _I'll see to it that you do, S-1. We will see if you two are responsible enough to have fragile things soon enough."_

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

"UNDYNE! HELP!" Papyrus yelled as a pod of kids ran behind him, attempting to pull at the trail that was his beloved, trademarked red scarf. Their grabby little hands looked as if they wanted to see what it would feel like. "UNDYNE!"

"huh?" Sans spoke aloud as he awoke from his sleep at the guard post. Had he heard so-

"SANS FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS SACRED HELP! THESE LITTLE TYRANTS ARE TRYING TO STEAL MY SCARF!" Papyrus yelled as he sprinted towards Sans, his 'battle body' not seeming to get in the way of his stride.

Sans smiled at the sight, then found his head back on the counter. Just a few more minutes….

"SANS YOU LAZY BONES! GET UP AND HELP THE GREAT PAPYRUS!" Papyrus called again, causing Sans to lift his head up. Guess he had to go take care of this if he ever wanted to hit that bliss of a peaceful sleep, something he was working on mastering.

He walked over to the tailing children, his approach catching the attention of a lot of the children causing them to stop running. Others seemed to follow suit and gathered around Sans, "Hi Sans!" "Arew you on duddy? Hahahahaha!" "Have you gotten any stronger Sans?" "Tell us a joke!"

All of the children began to ask more and more questions, but all fell silent as Sans cleared his throat, "what's green and has wheels?" he asked, a chorus of answers surfacing from 'a green bike' to 'a recycling bin'. Sans held up his hand and all the kids fell silent again so they could hear the answer.

"flowers, I lied about the wheels." he said with a wink, the joke being stupid enough to make the kids burst out into a fit of laughter while others stood at him with a look of strange anger. He cleared his throat again before he spoke.

"what do you call it when Undyne eats?" he asked, the kids thinking about the question for an obvious answer, but no one owning up to one fast enough.

"Un _dine_ ing." Sans joked, winking again but this time at the camera, hoping to make Alphys laugh if she was watching the monitor right now. At least if he couldn't be happy with all of the truths he had discovered after Gaster's… disappearance, someone else could.

At least in these days, Sans could be happy too.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXxX**_

 **So Sans now has a reason and the motive to pick a fight with someone, and it also seems like good ol` Gaster is meddling with something as well. At least we know that the other Gasters not affiliated with Void Gaster will stay out of trouble for now.**

 **Oh, and I had a few reviews saying the last chapter was pretty dark. Sorry about that, I wanted to try my hand at creating a darker chapter since I'm re-watching S again… and to be honest that show is pretty dark if you read between the lines. Just got t- Nevermind spoilers for someone if they haven't seen it so I'll hush about it.**

 **Apologies for the late upload** **. Had a choice to do something IRL or finish this chapter up and post it. You can see which one I chose, as the IRL option was actually pretty important, so my condolences for all of you guys and gals reading. I'm trying to keep a regular upload schedule up for you peeps.**

 _ **No review reward for this week. The one from last time will be carried over to next wednesday, we're nearing the end of the ARK and I don't want to rush the end of this.**_

 _ **Little debate for you guys and gals, should I skip the poltergeist ARK and go right into Sisters? Or no?**_ **I had a plan to use it, but the more I think about it I kinda feel like it might seem more like a filler than a good ARK. Though you guys might feel cheated by that, so I'll leave it up to you guys to decide in a review or PM.**

 _ **Thank you all for reading!**_ **The next chapter will be out on time Sunday. And to the reviewer who asked what Gaster is in comparison to Accelerator… well, first ask this: What is CHARA in comparison to Accelerator? :)**

 **Your questions about Sans powers have been heard. You will see more about that in these next few chapters.**

 _ **Have a nice day!**_

 _ **Also, I wanted to ask... I can't handle the Hotlands music. I don't know why, that music just gives me the heebie jeebies. I listen to music when I write, so I actually had to switch the song because the Hotlands song makes me so uncomfortable. Anyone feel that way or just me? Anywho, if anyone has some good music you think I should check out it might be nice to change music. Getting tired of I Feel it Coming and Starboy (I switched it up from the normal UT music remixes, and that was in my recommended feed.)**_

 _ **Catalog of Discovered Abilities: *Updated***_

 _ ***Magic Meltdown (Passive): An effect of having massive magical pools without any way of venting it. Effects can vary from sickness to magical flames erupting from limbs or body parts. Can also be caused by Intense Rage or extreme magic use when paired with the Shadow Eye ability. Also known as a sign of weakness.**_

 _ **Gaster Blaster (Ability): Summons a skull imbued with magical ability. The jaws can be seen popping apart as they prepare to discharge the magic within. Powerful enough to cut through even the thickest of steels. Point of origin unknown. Further research required.**_

 _ **Judgement (Passive): The ability to read a person's LOVE and EXP.**_

 _ **Judgement Eye (Ability): By focusing on a person's mind the user can see shards of a person's past. Not enough to know their past, but useful when needing small bits of information or threatening. You can tell when this skill is used when the user's speech seems to… lower. That's typically the case.**_

 _ **Shadow Eye (Ability): They say the eyes are the window to the SOUL. The user knows differently, as they can make theirs disappear on command. No side effects or physical effects, good for threatening. DeveLopeD bY**_ _ **ERRoR/?**_

 _ **Shortcut (Ability): Sans is able to teleport up to 500 Miles away if the known X and Y coordinates are present. However, without a picture of the location he cannot choose the altitude of his teleport. Without a picture he will ALWAYS land upon the highest land mass he can physically enter. (Ex. Rooftop) MUST be created in a shadow.**_

 _ **Time Slow (S Ability): A move not to be taken lightly. It can slow, or even freeze time. However, great power comes with great responsibility. It is a MAJOR (as marked by the "S") ability, and saps immense amounts of magical energy. The more energy that is prohibited by this ability, the more magical energy sapped. Not recommended for battle, especially one with high energy weaponry.**_

 _ **Voice Distortion (Ability): Much like the Shadow Eye ability, this is a way to intimidate your opponent. It gives Sans the ability to make his voice gain an echo and produce a hollow sound. Perfect for declaring the state of the world from a hallway.**_


	15. Total Breakdown pt 1

**Last chance to vote on whether or not to skip the poltergeist ARK or not.**

 _ **I should also point out that I didn't want to bore you guys and gals with repeats on what the anime and manga has already established in their ARKs, so if there are seeming leaps it's due to me not wanting to waste time on re-stating what was already done in the Manga. This includes Uiharu's kidnapping and Kuroko's Level Upper fights.**_

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxX**_

Chapter 15: Total Breakdown pt. 1

"Oops.." Uiharu said aloud as she dropped a piece of her ice cream onto the sidewalk. The green mint sweet made a nice splat onto the concrete sidewalk, but the girl had no way to pick it up. Oh well, that was half of five hundred yen wasted.

Despite the normally mood-ruining ice cream drop, Uiharu still seemed chipper as always as she walked down the street with a smile to light the hearts around her. It didn't matter that it was a smolderingly hot day outside, or that school seemed to drag into hours that didn't exist since Saten had been out sick. For the girl with flowers in her hair, the world was a nice place no matter what happened.

Sunlight beamed down on her as she walked, giving her raven hair a sheen to it whilst also making the yellow centers of the flowers in her hair come out even more. One could argue that this was actually due to her lifestyle in general, and another could say that was a load of crap. This was just the result of looking at the good things in a-

 _Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzt! Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt!_

"Huh?" Uiharu vocalized as she reached into her satchel and pulled out the neatly stowed away cellular device. She squinted a bit at the display, as the sunlight was casting a glare onto it and making it quite hard to read. "Sa...Sat..Saten!" she deduced, flipping her phone open to answer the call as she stopped walking at the crosswalk.

"Hello?" she called into the phone, watching traffic whirl by as she stood waiting. However, the voice on the other side of the line sounded much different than she had imagined. In fact this would ruin her day far past what the ice cream could have ever done.

Saten's voice sound hoarse and thin, sniffling and and stifling could be heard between words as she spoke. And when she did speak she spoke of a new revelation Judgement had come across, and only god knows how she found out about it. "I-is it true that if you *sniff sniff* use the Level Upper… you go into a c-coma?" she asked with a bittersweet voice. Uiharu's world froze as the voice and all of the noises around it began to process.

"Saten! Are you okay?" Uiharu replied without haste into the phone, looking frantically up at the light for the sign she could walk across. Saten's house wasn't but a few blocks away…

"Oh god, it's true then isn't it? I… I never should have kept it a secret from you guys. I used the level upper, a-and now I'm scared. Being an esper isn't worth this!" Saten cried into her speaker, sobs following suit. "-m-m-mm-maybe I'm not worth it… maybe I'm just worthless…"

Uiharu couldn't believe what she was hearing through her side of the phone. The always chipper and happy girl who always cracked jokes and seemed carefree… was crying. Not only that, but she was also saying some pretty dark things too. How long had she been shouldering these emotions? "No! You're just as important as anyone else out there! Don't say things like that!" Uiharu practically yelled back, her seemingly obscene gestures turning the heads of other people on the sidewalk.

"You're just as precious as any Esper or person I know out there you hear me?!" Uiharu yelled again with tears welling up in her eyes, "Just because you're level is low doesn't mean you're useless! Ask anyone, even Misaka and they'll tell you the same!"

The other side of the line got quiet again, spare the occasional sniffle. Uiharu was barely making any progress down the street she was so focus on her phone. "Y-yeah… I guess you're right. I just wish.. I… could…...t..a..ke…."

Before she could finish the life seemed to drain out of her, Uiharu letting the river of tears flow as she approached the dorm complex to see her friend. However, by the time she would get there… Saten would already be out cold. Her phone in one hand, her lucky charm in the other.

The Level Upper just had a new addition to its family of coma patients.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxX**_

It was a good thing that Kuroko was in her seat when she heard the news, if not she might have fallen onto the ground with weak knees and a swallowed heart. How was she supposed to know that Saten, the girl who never complained about being normal yet always tried to be more than just that, would use an item like the Level Upper? It just goes to show that even the nicest of people can be effected by lust for power.

Her initial reaction to hearing the news was to hold onto her desk for support, as getting a call from the hospital that the new coma patient was one of your close friends was never fun. After letting the information process through her brain however, she was forced to close her eyes and stop her work. How had they not seen it before?

"Y-yeah. You can come with us if you want." Kuroko spoke with a gentle tone into her phone speaker. She had called Uiharu immediately to make sure she knew, but it turns out she had laready heard. She could only imagine how Uiharu was taking it. What would she do if Misaka fell into a sudden coma? Sans? "Alright meet you there. Bye."

Shutting the phone, Kuroko stared blankly at the screen. When hit with the hard and heavy she was never one to cry about it, she always thought it through and through. Again and again. Now if only that could be said about some… 'smaller' situations. Nevermind, all that mattered right now was the fact that Saten was in trouble, and more so to the fact the Level Upper case just became personal… right when they had a solid lead too.

The lead was in fact where she was headed to right this moment. The laboratory where they had met Sans what seemed so long ago. The laboratory of Doctor Harumi, a leader in neuroscience.

Neuroscience. That was how they had begun to put together all of the occurrences that had been happening. First they had noticed that the murders had been high level Level Upper users. People who were nearing Level 5 or possibly even higher. That lead to the immediate checking and clearing of every Level 4 and highers room for the device.

Not soon after this was put into action, the murders stopped. The only problem was now people were falling into comas… which is where one of the doctors at the hospitals research came into focus. This man realized the link between brain waves and the song played by the Level Upper. This was no small feat of course, taking weeks of research to prove his point. However now that his work is done, it's down to locating the brainwave pattern. Which leads them to where they are now: Heading to one of the head Neuro scientists in Academy City.

Picking up her suitcase from the table, Kuroko made her way out of the office without a word to anyone else. They would know where she was going, and besides it's not that rare for someone to just waltz out of the office. This would be a very important meeting with the doctor, yet she had a gut feeling that something would go awry… or they would at least come to a conclusion of some sort. Hopefully the second.

She just hoped that Uiharu would be good on her own there while herself and Misaka were on their way.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxX**_

Void Gaster sat in the cafe, looking down into his coffee. He had to admit, after all of this planning he had done… things had gone over terribly. All of the security and hand holding, only for it to end up like this. Where had his calculations gone wrong? If a human was to truly be strong, how could they fail at something so easy? How was something so mentally fragile so strong in their souls?

He traced his boney finger along the rim of his coffee mug. His wide brimmed hat and large black trench coat hid his deformed skeletal body from the world, as his magical manipulation could only take him so far. As he continued his tracing, he went back over his plan from step one. Perhaps he was simply missing something..

Step One: Tip off the minions of skill out of Sans arrival. Oddly successful. This step was nothing more than to get Sans out of the picture. He couldn't have his creation running amuck so close to where he would be running his tests with Doctor Harumi.

Step Two: Outsource the Level Upper to Skill Out. This was the only way to get the results needed at the laboratory so he could test the network. Once again, surprisingly successful. Humans were more gullible than he had expected. This earned a relationship with one of the daughters of an Academy City Kingpin.

Step Three: Use the network to test SOUL compatibility. This is where things went awry, perhaps he should have used Skill Out again in this stage, they seemed to be quite productive. The patients couldn't be used while still conscious, so we decided to put them to sleep earlier than planned. Even so, the coma reaction was taking weeks to react. Then the murders started happening which was yet another kink in the works.

Step Four: To throw Judgement off of our trail I ordered that Misaka receive doses of Chem-X; A drug designed to give the user extremely vivid dreams that were controlled via handheld device. This distracted them for a little bit, pinning the blame on Sans for not only the possible distribution of the Level Upper but also the murders. It was then we decided to give The Railgun's roommate Kuroko doses of Chem-X as well, her contributions to the case were becoming too much to handle. Very effective.

Step Five: This was supposed to be the testing phase, but this is where things went wrong. Chem-X was working too well and now Sans is acting very strange as a result of the girls snooping. There is common fear that Sans might fight, to which case he would draw major attention to the Level Upper since his abilities seem so strong. And now we have the problem that the Uiharu girl discovered the whole plan and now has to be babysat like a nuisance due to the doctors no killing policy.

If it were up to him she'd be dead already. As most Humans would be if his body weren't so frail and inept. If only he could consume Human souls…. Enough of that idea though. It was long past time to consider things like that. Sans existed for a reason. Now there seemed to be only one option…

Step Six: Inform the fragments of failure.

He pulled the coffee up to his mouth and let the foul tasting substance flow through his innards. Yes, this would do. This plan would work indeed. If he was going to be forced to sit back on the sidelines as his body wasted away, maybe his fragments could do what he couldn't. Or at the least maybe even make Sans the hero at the end. Either world work.

Oh, it's about time that Railgun should be approaching Antiskill by now. Perhaps it would be worth stopping by to watch the fireworks.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXxX**_

Misaka sprinted as fast as her legs would take her along the side of the bridge. The only thing keeping her… was upright the correct word here? Was her magnetic ability she used. If only she could hook onto a car or something faster, but the highway had been closed off due to the Antiskill blockade ahead meant to stop the doctor.

So it was running along the walls for her, trying not to be spotted by antiskill and taken away before she could arrive.

Minutes passed and her breath began to become too shallow to handle. Misaka's physical abilities were beginning to fail after so much work, but she knew what would happen if she stopped so she dared not to test and see what a break could result in. It was obvious time was of the essence.

 _*KABOOM*_

The entire bridge exploded ahead of her, making the Level 5 drop on all fours to maintain her connection to the side. She must have been getting closer to the scene, and if that was the case…

She had to move faster.

Her lungs burned, as did every other muscle in her slender frame. She had done no preparation for this marathon she was currently running. Every muscle in the electromaster's body begged and bargained for her to stop and rest, yet the image of a scared Uiharu kept them in motion like wheels on a locomotive.

Well, if the wheels were faulty, that is.

"heya there." she heard a voice call to her, causing her to stop running in an attempt to see whose voice it was. It sounded a lot like Sans voice, but she couldn't quite make out if it was or not. She jumped over the railing and onto the highway, and low and behold there he was, a billow of smoke about half a mile behind him.

"S..San..s! I *cough cough* need yo..ur help!" Misaka wheezed at him, trying to catch her breath from the miles she had just run. Maybe with Sans help she could get there fast enough to save Uiharu from the doctor, or maybe even defeat her given she wasn't already finished with whatever god program she was running. "The do-"

"yeah yeah. doctor attacking, uiharu in danger. i've already checked, no one is in serious harm." Sans half-explained with a dead expression on his face, "so while we wait for things to boil down, how about we talk for a bit?"

Misaka wanted to punch him in the face right then and there. Even if he wasn't part of whatever stupid experiment was happening, he had no right to stand here while people could be getting hurt up there. How was he to know no one would be hurt? "Sans I *Cough cough* _need_ to get up there. Uiharu's life is on the line." she told him, starting to walk past him only for him to put his arm out in front of her chest as she crossed.

"you know, reading into your mind is really hard. it's like there's a network in there that masks your thoughts, but i can still tell some things." he told her as she gave the boy an evil stare, "so i just wanna know, whydja go into my apartment, huh?"

Misaka balled her hand up into a fist. Was now REALLY the time for this?! Why the hell was he bringing it up now of all times, couldn't this wait? "Now Sans? We can deal with this later!" she told him off, pushing past his arm and walking down the highway to where all of the action was happening.

As she walked away, hesitant to begin running immediately as her body was sore, she heard Sans talk again from behind her. This time though, it seemed to be a different tone.

"let me ask you a question then since you don't want to answer mine…" he said, causing Misaka to turn her head over her shoulder to look back at Sans... who wasn't even there anymore. Where did he go? She looked around behind her and didn't see him at all. Fortunate, at least now she could get back t-

" _ **Do you wanna have a bad time?"**_ he asked, his eyes gone from his skull and standing once again between her and Uiharu, "i don't wanna have to, but it's a simple question. i'm honestly being really considerate given all the stuff you've put me through." he explained, doing his signature shrug whilst his eyes were still gone. Perhaps now she would get to see what made him a level 5, or if he were just a bluff.

She looked at him directly in the eyes, or lack thereof to be more truthful. An arc of electricity came off of her hair and cascaded down her spine. "Sans, I'll give you one last chance. Move.." she paused to further her seriousness, "..or I'll make you move." she threatened him, a much bigger arc of electricity coming off of her as she finished.

Instead of moving however, Sans only sighed. "hate to tell ya kid, but i'm not moving. it looks as if i'm about to have the strangest sense of deja vu. absolute last chance to back out, and if you still don't wanna answer… well. you're _**really**_ not gonna like what happens next." he referenced to her, the reference going way above her head. How was she supposed to know that Sans had done this dance before in a different place and time?

She could hear the seriousness in his voice, and deja vu only made her further consider Sans a murderer, even if they couldn't find any proof. Flashbacks of him in his room came back to the edges of her mind..

" _.i_ _ **swear**_ _papyrus…. i'll_ _ **get revenge on**_ _wh_ _oever did_ _this…_ _ **i will**_ _ **wIPe tHEm oFF ThE fACE oF tHE pLAnEt."**_ She remembered, a chill going down her spine at the memory. Maybe it would be better just to talk it ou- No what was she talking about! Sans was just stalling for time and was most likely just working for whatever stupid organization was behind this! She knew she could beat him anyways if it caused him to pass out after one laser.

In fact, it might be better to send him a warning.

A bolt of electricity shot out from Misaka and landed mere inches away from where Sans stood, unmoved. She expected to see fear in his eyes like every other bluffer she had seen, yet in his face she saw… disappointment. "sorry papyrus, i tried to do it your way."

A blinding flash of light shook the area, forcing the electromaster to look away. When she opened her eyes however, the world was coated in a bright sheen, the only sign of life coming from the silhouette that looked like Sans… sort of.

"it's a beautiful day outside…" she heard him talk, his voice clearly coming from the skeletal silhouette in front of her.

"The birds are singing…. the flowers are bloomin`." she heard again as his shadow appeared closer this time. She could have sworn she heard a bird chirp.

"On days like these… kids like you.."

The brightness turned a stark black in an instant, the silhouette of Sans becoming a nightmare image of just his skeleton. His eyes were gone and his teeth were wide in a smile. This wasn't the Sans she knew, this was someone else. This was the nightmare she had been having, and she wondered if she would wake up.

" _ **...sHoULD bE bURNiNG iN hELL."**_

 _It was then the match began._

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXxX**_

 **Well, here you go guys. One more chapter in this ARK left and then we're off into the next one. Thanks to all of you who gave me song recommendations, I enjoyed the change of pace. However this next chapter.. Looks like I'm gonna be listening to a lot of megalovania. If you're wondering what kind of feel I'm going for in the fight… youtube "Undertale - Megalovania [METAL Ver.] - Caleb Hyles (feat. RichaadEB)"**

 **And yes I'm aware this chapter is shorter than others, but hopefully it's obvious why.**

 **Thumbs up to me for actually uploading on Sunday! Woo!** _ **And thumbs up to all of you for reviewing and reading!**_

 _ **Have a nice day!**_

 _ **Catalog of All Sans Natural Abilities: *Updated***_

 _ ***Body Swap (SOUL Ability): One-of-a-kind ability that allows the user to take on the appearance of the SOUL left behind by another. Immensely painful and takes an inhuman sized magic pool. A result of laboratory testing and trials, unable to be replicated by natural means… that are known. Further testing necessary.**_

 _ ***Light Show (Passive) Paired with Body Swap, an effect of changing from normal to a human body or vice versa. Light is released from the magic re-entering the magic pool, then followed by darkness from the space now void of magical energy. Can result in blinding.**_

 _ **Gaster Blaster (Ability): Summons a skull imbued with magical ability. The jaws can be seen popping apart as they prepare to discharge the magic within. Powerful enough to cut through even the thickest of steels. Point of origin unknown. Further research required.**_

 _ **Judgement (Passive): The ability to read a person's LOVE and EXP.**_

 _ **Judgement Eye (Ability): By focusing on a person's mind the user can see shards of a person's past. Not enough to know their past, but useful when needing small bits of information or threatening. You can tell when this skill is used when the user's speech seems to… lower. That's typically the case.**_

 _ **Magic Meltdown (Passive): An effect of having massive magical pools without any way of venting it. Effects can vary from sickness to magical flames erupting from limbs or body parts. Can also be caused by Intense Rage or extreme magic use when paired with the Shadow Eye ability. Also known as a sign of weakness.**_

 _ **Shadow Eye (Ability): They say the eyes are the window to the SOUL. The user knows differently, as they can make theirs disappear on command. No side effects or physical effects, good for threatening. DeveLopeD bY**_ _ **ERRoR/?**_

 _ **Shortcut (Ability): Sans is able to teleport up to 500 Miles away if the known X and Y coordinates are present. However, without a picture of the location he cannot choose the altitude of his teleport. Without a picture he will ALWAYS land upon the highest land mass he can physically enter. (Ex. Rooftop) MUST be created in a shadow.**_

 _ **Time Slow (S Ability): A move not to be taken lightly. It can slow, or even freeze time. However, great power comes with great responsibility. It is a MAJOR (as marked by the "S") ability, and saps immense amounts of magical energy. The more energy that is prohibited by this ability, the more magical energy sapped. Not recommended for battle, especially one with high energy weaponry.**_

 _ **Voice Distortion (Ability): Much like the Shadow Eye ability, this is a way to intimidate your opponent. It gives Sans the ability to make his voice gain an echo and produce a hollow sound. Perfect for declaring the state of the world from a hallway.**_


	16. Total Breakdown pt 2

" **This next test will be very, very interesting. What do you two think?"**

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

 _ **Chapter 16: Total Breakdown pt. 2**_

" _People can be scared of the Truth sometimes."_ the Doctor said to her, moving the pawn two spaces down to defeat the last unguarded Knight. It was a move she should have already accounted for.

Not moving that Knight would cost the female doctor dearly. He shouldn't have been so rash. She had been in such a hurry to remove his bishop from the playing field she had left her knight unprotected. Gaster was winning.

" _People are scared of what they cannot understand."_ the Doctor spoke again, his voice reverberating through Harumi's skull. She wasn't sure what was up with this guy, but he sounded like a fortune cookie every time he opened his mouth.

...Anything for her students.

" _How you choose to use this knowledge is up to you."_ Gaster told her, Harumi moving her King backwards in fear of a checkmate. Gasters chuckle filled his mind, making it seem more like an evil laughter.

" _Power means nothing to those who have it."_ Gaster continued his monologue, " _No one understands your motives Harumi, and that's what makes you so dangerous. You have many skills, and the way you choose to utilize each one is what makes you special. Today you chose incorrectly, but you might be able to make the right one still."_

Gaster extended his hand out to the Doctor over the game of chess, his boney fingers smooth but cold to the touch, " _Join me, doctor. There are many things you have yet to see."_ He asked her with a sense of foreboding lingering in the background, " _You can bring Justice to those who you lost. Perseverance is the key here, and you have it. You've been waiting patiently for the right time, and now I believe is the time to strike."_

"The moment you get in the way of me and those kids I'll slit your throat." she warned the creepy skeletal man, and even though he couldn't change his expression she could have sworn he was smiling. Smiling through that bone mask face and right into her very soul.

" _A hollow threat. You'd be wise to stay your place, I am the one offering the propositional answer to your cry for help after all."_ Gaster warned, his white eyes turning a dark shade of yellow. Harumi wasn't sure if this was a good thing or not, but she needed this.. things help if she was going to save those children.

Doctor Harumi grabbed the suitcase which sat at the base of her chair, and pulled it up to the table top with one swift move. "This is the drugs you wanted in exchange for your help on Project Level Upper." she told him, flipping up the two fingerprint locks that opened the case; revealing three large cylinders of a yellow liquid. "One quart of Chem-X. One tablespoon will be enough nanites to alter the dream sequence. One cup will be enough to alter emotions, but this is all we have so don't be greedy."

Gaster watched as the woman shut the case and slid it to him, catching the case with his bone white fingers. " _And the device?"_ Gaster questioned, extending his other hand to receive the nanite controller. Harumi handed it over just as quickly as the suitcase.

Gaster stood up from the table, walking back towards the door of the interior office. The suitcase dangled securely from his right hand while the remote laid safely in his breast pocket. He reached for the door handle, only for Doctor Harumi to speak again, "What do you plan on using Chem-X on?" she asked with curiosity.

The skeleton opened the door and left his answer to take his place in the room before he shut the door, " _Let's just say old tricks still work, and I'll need a good bishop to play my opponent."_ he answered vaguely, shutting the door behind him before anymore questions could be asked.

All of that being done with now, he was able to look down at the watch he had around his wrist. Yes, he would still have plenty of time to meet with Miss Austin. Everything was going as planned, all it needed was to be put into motion.

Soon, it would be checkmate.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

"it's a beautiful day outside…" she heard him talk, his voice clearly coming from the skeletal silhouette in front of her.

"The birds are singing…. the flowers are bloomin`." she heard again as his shadow appeared closer this time. She could have sworn she heard a bird chirp.

"On days like these… kids like you.."

The brightness turned a stark black in an instant, the silhouette of Sans becoming a nightmare image of just his skeleton. His eyes were gone and his teeth were wide in a smile. This wasn't the Sans she knew, this was someone else. This was the nightmare she had been having, and she wondered if she would wake up.

" _ **...sHoULD bE bURNiNG iN hELL."**_

Immediately Misaka felt as if she lost her balance, falling onto her knees as an unknown pressure battered her from above. She was forced to use her emergency escape electric pulse to dodge the jagged bones that exploded from the ground. The lab-named 'Hyperbeams' materialized from the air around her, the massive skulls of beasts staring down at her with the intent to kill.

The electromaster leapt over the side of the bridge without a second thought, the spot behind the disintegrating behind her instantly. Crossing her arms, she braced for impact on the ground.

A miniature crater formed where she landed, cracking the cement of the abandoned city street. Cars were nowhere to be seen and people had long since left, except for one. The lazy boy who should have been on the bridge above stood in front of her, his fists in his pockets.

" _Heya."_ he called out using the same pressure he did before to launch her into a building, hard. " _You think I'm gonna go easy just because it's the start of a fight?"_ he questioned as Misaka peeled her body from the cement wall of someone's shop wall. Electricity arced off her entire body as she began to boil with anger.

"My mistake, won't let it happen again…" she told him, wiping away the blood that trickled from her lower lip. She them began to run towards the mysterious Level 5 with renewed determination. She would get the last laugh and wipe that smirk off of his face.

A bolt of electricity escaped her body, launching far into the sky. It came back down with alarming speed and great accuracy, so much that she was sure it would be a direct hit onto her target. Yet when the dust cleared Sans was was nowhere to be seen.

" _Last time I did this I tried to avoid fighting until the very end."_ Sans said from behind Misaka, causing her to turn her head so fast she may or may not have gotten whiplash. He was completely fine, not a sign of electricity on his body. " _Now I'm fighting for revenge. Do you even know what that bandanna meant? Or the vase of ashes? The couch cushio-"_

Misaka threw out a bolt of lighting to interrupt him, he actually ducked under it with amazing speed, could it be possible he was actually out running all of her attacks?

Another lightning bolt would give her that answer, she released a volley of them at the skeleton who simply disappeared from the area as if he teleported. By the hot feeling of blood going down the back of her arm, she guessed the boy was behind her and she had been nicked by one of his bone attacks. She needed time to think of an attack that would effect a teleporter…

" _Look I gave up trying to go back a long time ago. I wish this was the time where Frisk didn't kill my brother. Where Frisk didn't kill the woman I loved. Where Frisk didn't kill the comic relief."_ he told her, not releasing another attack yet, " _Too bad for me, it was. And here you had to go destroying what little I had left."_

Misaka found her answer as Sans talked out his dialogue; a tactic used by so many had before. If she could hit everything in the area, then there would be nowhere safe to teleport away to right? But how would she mana-

The power box. Nearby stood a powerline, complete with a powerbox just waiting to be exploded. Backup power would keep the city in power, so that consequence would be out of the way. All of that being said, she let out a bolt of lighting at the box.

Sans eyes widened as he realized what she was aiming at. He felt the world slow down as a shower of Electricity began to shower around at random. He teleported with ease between the time-slowed bolts, yet to the eyes of his opponent it looked impossible. He was teleporting so much that she could have sworn he was in at least three places at once. Some even let their hands out in his signature shrug.

The shower of bolts slowed to a stop, the lights in the building flickering as the generators kicked on, yet she couldn't see Sans anywhere. Maybe he was behind her again, that wo-

" _Game over kid."_ she heard, the sound of one of his Hyperbeams forming somewhere behind the the moment she turned. If it was true that these beams could go through anything, there was no point in trying to stop it.

The jaws of the beast cracked as the shining bolt of raw energy shot forward faster than a bullet. For Misaka, the world seemed to slow down. Not as much as Sans slowing it down, but just her adrenaline pumping what the body thought would be its last chance of survival. Despite the fact she could have sworn that would be the end, she felt obligated to try and move anyways.

She closed her eyes in a blink that seemed to last an eternity, yet when she opened them she wasn't greeted with a blinding white light as she expected. Instead, it was her best friend Kuroko.

"B-barely… got h-h-ere i...n time.." Kuroko huffed out, trying to catch her breath from the presumably intense sprint she had getting here. They had teleported into an alleyway next to the street they had previously been on. The two looked at each other, then back at the hole in the ground where the Electromaster once stood. Sans wasn't going to pull it back at all, he really was going for the kill.

"Thanks." Misaka told her as she turned to run back to Sans, "Now leave, there's already too many lives at stake."

As Misaka went to run back, she felt a hand grab her wrist. The feeling of soft skin was too familiar, and as she looked back her thoughts were only confirmed. It was Kuroko, and the expression of determination she wore on her face explained it all. "We don't know how strong he really is, if you're going to fight a teleporter you'll need a teleporter yourself." she informed Misaka, looking her in the eyes. "If we go down we go down tog-

" _Done with the dramatic monologue yet?"_ Sans said, interrupting the two of them as he entered the alleyway. " _Cause I don't wanna have to take out both o-_

Sans was the one cut off this time as he was forced to teleport out of the way of a sudden lightning bolt, causing him to land on top of the rooftop of the building overlooking the alleyway. " _That's the second time you've done that now. At least FrIS-"_

Sans felt the strong swift contact into his back, seeing Kuroko behind him with the surprise attack. He had forgotten all about the teleporters arrival, and he had just seen her too. He had gotten too used to 1v1s.

The breath escaped the boy's lungs as he fell on all fours along the edge of the rooftop. His spine hurt, it felt like he had been hit by a bus, and to be honest he was surprised that the damage wasn't worse. He teleported off of the roof, watching carefully as Kuroko did the same but only to regroup with Misaka as he stood up. The three, once friends, all looked at each other. Glancing back and forth at one another to see who was going to make the next move.

As Sans stood up to his full height, as short as it is, they could see he had no intent of fighting further. At least at the moment.

" _Look, this has gone on a bit longer than I had thought. Soon Doctor Harumi will be done with Antiskill. So how about this, apologize… and we can bury the hatchet."_ Sans told them, wiping the blood that dribbled from the corner of his mouth.

Misaka and Kuroko looked at each other, both agreeing on their reply the moment they made eye contact. This may be the only chance for them to get back at Sans for… whatever he had done. To be honest it was mostly just resentment on his kill shot earlier that drove them. "No, you started this. You finish this." Misaka told him, pulling out a coin from her skirt pocket.

Instead of Sans letting them go, his attempt to pacify them failed, he let out a sigh. A big one too. Misaka took aim at the skeleton and prepared to fire her famous railgun, Sans still unmoving.

" _I see."_ Sans told them, his eyes going black again. A cold wind flew through the area as his fists curled into a ball. A mysterious heat began to emit from his body, a bright blue glow accompanying his new warmth. A human soul had awoken within him.

He looked up at the girls in front of him, the railgun still pointed at him. A laugh could be heard coming from his body as he shoved his balled up fists into his pockets.

" _ **FiNE, ThEn lEt's do thIS THe haRD WAY."**_

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

" _Are you sure you want to do this?"_

" _Yes."_

" _I see. Which of us is goi-"_

" _I will. Me and the followers will go."_

" _..."_

" _..."_

" _Go now, the followers will be there soon enough."_

" _We will mend the rift Void Gaster created."_

" _It's not a rift it's a sickness."_

" _Sickness doesn't result in anger and thoughtless rage."_

" _..."_

" _Neither does Chem-X, yet look at where he is now."_

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXxX**_

 **Misaka and Sans fight part one, thoughts? Sans behavior was.. Different than normal if you happened to notice. Not as factual as the usual. And yes, I'm aware this was a short chapter. Probably the shortest one to be honest. But, you should be glad to know this was due to me doing plot things to correctly integrate the Poltergeist ARK. Woo?**

 **Last Chapter of this ARK is next chapter. Oh, and as for all of you people who keep reviewing or PMing something that is in the next chapter… how do you even manage to do that? Seriously I thought it would be different to add the followers in, yet the last review on the story was a question on if they would be added… deja vu?**

 _ **Thank you all for reading! Have a nice day!**_

 _ **Catalog of All Sans Natural Abilities:**_

 _ **Body Swap (SOUL Ability): One-of-a-kind ability that allows the user to take on the appearance of the SOUL left behind by another. Immensely painful and takes an inhuman sized magic pool. A result of laboratory testing and trials, unable to be replicated by natural means… that are known. Further testing necessary.**_

 _ **Gaster Blaster (Ability): Summons a skull imbued with magical ability. The jaws can be seen popping apart as they prepare to discharge the magic within. Powerful enough to cut through even the thickest of steels. Point of origin unknown. Further research required.**_

 _ **Judgement (Passive): The ability to read a person's LOVE and EXP.**_

 _ **Judgement Eye (Ability): By focusing on a person's mind the user can see shards of a person's past. Not enough to know their past, but useful when needing small bits of information or threatening. You can tell when this skill is used when the user's speech seems to… lower. That's typically the case.**_

 _ **Light Show (Passive) Paired with Body Swap, an effect of changing from normal to a human body or vice versa. Light is released from the magic re-entering the magic pool, then followed by darkness from the space now void of magical energy. Can result in blinding.**_

 _ **Magic Meltdown (Passive): An effect of having massive magical pools without any way of venting it. Effects can vary from sickness to magical flames erupting from limbs or body parts. Can also be caused by Intense Rage or extreme magic use when paired with the Shadow Eye ability. Also known as a sign of weakness.**_

 _ **Shadow Eye (Ability): They say the eyes are the window to the SOUL. The user knows differently, as they can make theirs disappear on command. No side effects or physical effects, good for threatening. DeveLopeD bY**_ _ **ERRoR/?**_

 _ **Shortcut (Ability): Sans is able to teleport up to 500 Miles away if the known X and Y coordinates are present. However, without a picture of the location he cannot choose the altitude of his teleport. Without a picture he will ALWAYS land upon the highest land mass he can physically enter. (Ex. Rooftop) MUST be created in a shadow.**_

 _ **Time Slow (S Ability): A move not to be taken lightly. It can slow, or even freeze time. However, great power comes with great responsibility. It is a MAJOR (as marked by the "S") ability, and saps immense amounts of magical energy. The more energy that is prohibited by this ability, the more magical energy sapped. Not recommended for battle, especially one with high energy weaponry.**_

 _ **Voice Distortion (Ability): Much like the Shadow Eye ability, this is a way to intimidate your opponent. It gives Sans the ability to make his voice gain an echo and produce a hollow sound. Perfect for declaring the state of the world from a hallway.**_

 _ **Catalog of Sans with Human Soul Abilities:**_

… _ **.**_

 _ **Tests show that giving Sans a human soul…**_

 _ **Well, let's just say these**_ _ **stay in the lab.**_ _ **Stay with me.**_


	17. Total Breakdown pt 3

**Welcome back.**

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxX**_

Chapter 17: Total Breakdown pt. 3

As Sans stood up to his full height, as short as it is, they could see he had no intent of fighting further. At least at the moment.

" _Look, this has gone on a bit longer than I had thought. Soon Doctor Harumi will be done with Antiskill. So how about this, apologize… and we can bury the hatchet."_ Sans told them, wiping the blood that dribbled from the corner of his mouth.

Misaka and Kuroko looked at each other, both agreeing on their reply the moment they made eye contact. This may be the only chance for them to get back at Sans for… whatever he had done. To be honest it was mostly just resentment on his kill shot earlier that drove them. "No, you started this. You finish this." Misaka told him, pulling out a coin from her skirt pocket.

Instead of Sans letting them go, his attempt to pacify them failed, he let out a sigh. A big one too. Misaka took aim at the skeleton and prepared to fire her famous railgun, Sans still unmoving.

" _I see."_ Sans told them, his eyes going black again. A cold wind flew through the area as his fists curled into a ball. A mysterious heat began to emit from his body, a bright blue glow accompanying his new warmth. A human soul had awoken within him.

He looked up at the girls in front of him, the railgun still pointed at him. A laugh could be heard coming from his body as he shoved his balled up fists into his pockets.

" _ **FiNE, ThEn lEt's do thIS THe haRD WAY."**_

Misaka didn't have time to blink before the quick reflexes of Shirai took her away from the street, the black scorch marks visible where they stood before. Now the two stood in the middle of the street on high alert, their heads darting around for where Sans went. How could someone so lazy move so fast?

" _ **Oh coMe ON nOW."**_ they heard from… somewhere. To be honest it was coming from everywhere, " _ **dOn't rUN Aw**_ _ **AY wE HAVen't EvEN starteD!"**_

Laughter, followed by the familiar feeling of a tug at the Electromasters arm. Next thing she knew she stood atop the building again looking down at yet another blotch of scorched earth. Now it was her turn to react as she heard a rumbling behind her: A literal _wave_ of bones headed in her direction.

The two jumped over the bones as they came, soaring high into the sky. They had no idea how much damage one would do, or even if they could land on one… nor did they plan to find out. Landing on the other side of the wave, Misaka readied her railgun and looked around for Sans… not on the ground.. Not on the rooftop…. There!

She saw him across the street, atop the other rooftop with his hands still in his pockets. His eye had an eerie blue glow to it, fitting well with the aura of orange that seemed to cover his skin. A smile crawled across his face as he locked eyes with Misaka. A strange beat began to play somewhere in the distance.

" _Do do DO DO do do do dododo do do DO DO do do do dododo…."_

Misaka blinked, and then he was directly in front of her, his hand holding a fierce grip onto the arm with the coin, " _ **LeT'S dANcE, sHaLL wE?"**_

Sans disappeared in a quick black haze, confirming her thoughts on his teleportation abilities.. But also distracting her from the Hyperbeams closing in on her from all sides. Kuroko to the rescue again.

This time they landed onto the streets, bones popping up from all around and circling them like sharks. They came from windows, trashcans, sewer lids, mailboxes… and joined into the rapidly diminishing circle containing the two girls. Misaka raised her fist, she hadn't even gotten to put up an offensive front yet.

The electricity began to build inside of her body, letting loose on command and zapping all of the bones around. Arcs of electricity hit their marks, the bones falling down where they lie or even disintegrating altogether. So electricity was effective against his attacks. That means…

"Kuroko, duck!" Misaka called out, her partner following orders without hesitation. The teleporter ducked down to narrowly avoid the electricity that came vaulting from Misaka's finger, and into a freshly formed Hyperbeam. The two watched with increasing security in their abilities as the skull beast fell from the sky onto the ground and shattered into little pieces.

Looking up to make eye contact with her sissy, Kuroko nodded a wordless agreement. She would be the transportation and Misaka would be the fighter. That being decided, Kuroko took the fight to Sans by teleporting them to the roof where the two prepared for a blitzkrieg attack.

"Surprise!" Kuroko yelled as she went in for the kick, Sans sending his head back with ease to dodge the attack. However as he went to go back to normal frame a fist followed it up from the other female giving him barely enough time to dodge. As he looked back up the girls hadn't thrown any more punches, yet they stood side by side with their fists up, looking at Sans, getting ready for a fist fight.

Well, teleporting away _would_ reveal his weakness...

Misaka was the first one to jump back into the fray with a left hook, Sans dodging it with ease and nailing her in the elbow with a well placed bone instead of a punch. Kuroko took this advantage in his occupation to try and land a blow onto his legs, yet he just jumped over and smashed her dead in the face with his bony fist. The look on his face told him that wasn't the best idea he had, his fist already a dark shade of red.

The female teleporter realized it in that moment what had happened, and for the first time realized just what his weakness was. They had to stay close to him if they were going to beat him.

Misaka was up again by this time and went for a fist to the face as well, yet the boy teleported behind her and she ended up making contact with Kuroko, who had been behind him still processing the new information. A sympathetic glance in Shirai's direction seemed to clear it up, but a moment from combat cost them as both were slapped with an onslaught of bones.

It cut up their skin and clothing, blood seeping out of fresh wounds like paper cuts. Kuroko looked at the damage done as Misaka shot a surprise hyperbeam out of the skies with her electricity. No time to lose, they jumped right into the fight again with more kicks and punches at Sans, who was dodging them and dealing some bone-themed attacks right back at them.

It still baffled the two of them how fluidly he was taking on the both of them, like no one had ever done before. He stood strong without a problem in the face of so many threats and refused to let a single blow land onto his body, and that alone is what worried the duo the most. He had to be tiring out, right?

" _ **sToP hAUnTIng mE aLREAdy!"**_ Sans yelled as he moved his hands in a way he hadn't seen before. He thrust his arms out and watched as both bodies gained a blue look, then were promptly slammed into the wall of the building next to them, which stood only slightly taller. The girls struggled to move as if gravity itself were pushing them against the concrete.

Kuroko could have sworn she felt something in her arm snap as the force pushed down harder, if only she could reach over to Sissy she could teleport them both away…. However the Level 5 Electromaster looked at Sans more in curiosity than desperation. She couldn't have been the only one to notice the tears pouring down his face, right?

" _ **Wha**_ _ **\- what aM I doiNg?"**_ Sans asked himself, the force pushing down on the duo lessening. Kuroko went wide eyed as she noticed how badly his hands were shaking and even the tears on his face. Was this a result of too much use of whatever his power was? Or was he genuinely sad?

Neither of the girls had time to think any longer as the force stopped completely and they were sent tumbling off the wall and began plummeting towards the street.

Landing on the ground a bit worse than gracefully, the two girls groaned in pain. Their limbs hurt from the various cuts they had, not to mention the running. If Sans hadn't stopped when he did they'd have died for sure…. speaking of that…

"What are we gonna do?" Kuroko questioned from her spot on the ground next to Misaka, equally as best up and broken yet still in one peace. It seemed they both had the same thing going through their mind, do they go back up and risk the fight or flee?

"He's clearly stronger than us, somehow, yet you saw what happened when he dropped us didn't you? The tears? The way he looked at us?" Misaka reminded her friend, her body shaking and aching as she pushed herself off the ground. It was one thing to fight someone who deserved it, but something deep inside of her.. that reserve of _something_ deep inside of her that kept her fighting when she had no more… that reserve refused to come forth inside of her.

Maybe some part of her still saw the boy as a friend?

The audio cue of Kuroko getting up caused Misaka to turn her head and look at her friend, who shook with the same feelings inside as Misaka did. Whatever presumptions and acclaims they had needed to be abandoned. It didn't matter that Sans tried to kill them, it was the fact he didn't pull the trigger when he could have. The fact that they weren't dead right now was enough proof that Sans wasn't their enemy right now. The Doctor was.

Grabbing her sissy hand in a wordless exchange of agreement, Kuroko teleported them to the roof where they were met with a much less menacing Sans. The side of Sans they were a little more familiar with, the broken one.

The boy sat sobbing tears into his palms like a child would over a lost toy. He dwelled on memories no one else in the world could even imagine, memories of loss and sadness. Memories he had tried so hard to bear alone.

" _i'm so sorry."_ Sans said in between his sobs. " _i thought I could handle the LOVE that came with my escape."_

Misaka and Kuroko glanced at each other. What escape? LOVE? We're they finally about to get some of the answers they had been theorizing about for so long?

" _i thought Gaster was just an old fool spinning fake tales, but I believed them for Papyrus."_ Sans attempted to explain, his back straightening up as his posture became more composed. His hands fell from his face and onto the roof by his sides.

" _i was wrong to think those things."_ He admitted in a voice of defeat, " _you deserve to know the truth about my past. about who- no what I am."_

The duo kept their glance at each other, realizing that they were in no shape to leave and go help capture the doctor anyways. That would have to be left up to Antiskill, weather they liked that or not. They looked back to Sans.

" _this isn't a story I can tell in one sitting. it's a long one, but I can start you off."_ he informed them while pulling out the cookbook from his apartment, " _this is the story of a lost element."_

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

 _Year unknown_

 _Documentary Journal 34_

 _Project Phoenix_

 _D1: Today test number one is underway. I can no longer live with this… this thing inside me. To recap, it began its manifestation inside the brain shortly after the murder of innocent test subjects. It yearns for more, more blood. It eats away at my core and is beginning to cause physical problems in its endeavours to make my body move._

 _I believe I shall call it Bio-rage._

 _Regardless, I am going to need new body parts soon. my hands are growing holes to fill the lack of determination in my soul… in theory at least. Thus by taking my DNA and replicating myself, I can create new body parts and live long enough to cure this Bio-rage._

 _D2: I have selected the perfect candidate for my replacement parts. My hands. The holes are growing with the most alarming speed, so in theory it shouldn't cost me too much to extract the DNA from there._

 _D7: Testing is ready. The embryonic chambers are ready for containment and even more so they are ready to be used. I will insert DNA tomorrow, and report my findings upon the observation of any important growths._

 _D9: Brief traces of a skeleton have tried to form, it may be working._

 _D10: On the first try it seems that I have managed to completely establish a skeleton. Magnificent! I will commence extraction tomorrow._

 _D11: Failure. The skeleton disintegrated immediately after extraction. It seems that without a soul nothing living can exist. I will need more research to be sure._

 _D24: Attempt number two at Project Phoenix. Hoping the synthetic determination and Justice will be enough to give the bones a semblance of a soul._

 _D25: Failure, but partial success. The skeleton became sentient to some degree and ripped out the wires supplying it nutrients. It died within the next hour or so._

 _D26: I have decided to make Project Phoenix a top priority, as my hands are now struggling to even hold pens. Live test subjects seem to be my last option, regardless of the cruelty necessary._

 _D27: Today R-1 and R-2 were born into the world. They are still in the growth phase in their individual embryonic chambers. Very rapid growth is happening, hopefully soon enough to heal myself before it's too late._

 _On another note I've decided to rename my previous discovery from Bio-rage to L.O.V.E.: Level of Violence Endurance. This is due to the amount of violence one becomes immune to once the parasite gains more control over the brain, and only grows more in control by breaking moral mental boundaries on killing._

 _D30: R-1 is awake and is having unknown effects. He is blind I believe, and perhaps also deaf. He is an_ _abomination._ _I have no intention on seeing this freak of nature survive the night. Hopefully R-2 will be better._

 _D33: R-2 is suffering, he doesn't have the 7 pieces of a soul nor the soul of a monster. Yet I think my LOVE is growing, as I no longer care about how he feels. Is this how it feels to fall?_

 _D36: I have started new creations and R-2 I decided to put down. Today I try again without any of the pain numbing chems, as they slow down the process. Not only am I becoming incapable of caring anymore, I am also running out of time._

 _D37: S-1 and S-2 were born today. They are in agonizing pain yet I refuse to let them die. I can no longer afford to fail._

 _D39: They are near finishing development and are ready to exit the stasis chamber, I only hope they can stay in one peace. I have chosen the human soul trait of perseverance as it isn't powerful enough to destroy their souls, but can still hold them in similar standard…._

Sans closed the cookbook and looked back to the duo on the rooftop with him, "i am s-1, so now you know what I was created for. where I come from." he explained vaguely.

Misaka and Kuroko both needed time to process what Sans had rattled off to them. It wasn't the kind of answers they were hoping for, but it was definitely mind breaking. How was Sans in human form if he was made as a skeleton? How did he escape?

"that red scarf you destroyed? that was the last remnants of what I had left of S-2… my brother." He explained to them, a story slowly coming together in each of their heads, "that same disease that Doctor Gaster had, Frisk had as well. that's why I had to kill the little demon."

Hate boiled in his eyes, it was no secret that Frisk had killed his brother any longer. "and now, I think I have the same thing they did. I think my LOVE has risen, and in turn caused me to lash out my anger onto you… i'm sorry."

Silence filled the rooftop again, cueing Sans to close his eyes once again. He needed time to think about what he'd done, and how he'd prevent it in the future. However the girls still seemed on edge, what was to happen with the Level Upper and the Doctor?

What about Uiharu and Saten? They were mixed up in this mess too, and since they were busy fighting like kids over here there's no telling what could have gone down over there. For all they knew the Doctor could have killed the entire Antiskill squad and has already moved on, an idea that wasn't actually too rash given the circumstances…

The sound of sirens blaring out in the distance caught all of their attention. It wasn't the sound of an announcement PSA or even just someone with their finger on the button for too long. No, this was the sound broadcasted in an absolute emergency. The nuclear lockdown warning, giving all citizens exactly thirty seconds to get indoors before all blast doors shut and prepared for the worst.

Whatever had happened must have been something very bad, as something was drastically wrong if the city was willing to go to this extent.

In fact, they were on the rooftop... how could things be worse?

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXxX**_

 **Many of you are aware why I am late to the update party, if not here we go. Power outage, computer fried. Big scary storms, blah blah blah. Typed this entire upload by phone and it was the absolute worst. I can't tell if this chapter is any good or not since I can't get a feel if the chapter fits my style without a computer. Everything's all different on the phone.**

 **As far as ARK's go, the chapter I keep splitting in half came to an abrupt end here that would have lead directly into the 3rd ARK, but by popular demand the Poltergeist ARK has been asked to remain uncut, so I've been forced to redraw this ending scenario slightly. This is why the ARK didn't end in this chapter. Oh, and new chapter on Sunday. It'll be a Mega chapter to compensate for my lack of uploads as I'm getting my PC back Friday.**

 **What's a Mega chapter you ask? Twice as big, going to have a segment for Sans, Sans backstory, ARK ending, and establishment. Oh, my original inspiration for this story was indeed Handplates as some of you may have seen or put together. However, now that I'm watching FMA:B again I will be drawing from that as well. The similarities between Undertale and FMA:B are actually quite astonishing….**

 **The number for faster upload, this includes the Sunday Megaupload and the reviews that happen there, is 300. Good luck and good morrow.**

 **A big thank you to all of you who check for these updates, and once again apologies for the late one. I am hoping to get back into the upload schedule to help pick up momentum again.**

 _ **Thank you all and have a nice day!**_

 _ **Catalog of All Sans Natural Abilities: *Updated***_

 _ ***Graviton Well (Ability): Allows the user to create a field of gravity that can be used to propel objects in a direction by altering their gravity. Good for propelling bones, or the remains of someone you crushed into the stratosphere. However the ability has limited range, so don't expect anything too drastic.**_

 _ **Body Swap (SOUL Ability): One-of-a-kind ability that allows the user to take on the appearance of the SOUL left behind by another. Immensely painful and takes an inhuman sized magic pool. A result of laboratory testing and trials, unable to be replicated by natural means… that are known. Further testing necessary.**_

 _ **Gaster Blaster (Ability): Summons a skull imbued with magical ability. The jaws can be seen popping apart as they prepare to discharge the magic within. Powerful enough to cut through even the thickest of steels. Point of origin unknown. Further research required.**_

 _ **Judgement (Passive): The ability to read a person's LOVE and EXP.**_

 _ **Judgement Eye (Ability): By focusing on a person's mind the user can see shards of a person's past. Not enough to know their past, but useful when needing small bits of information or threatening. You can tell when this skill is used when the user's speech seems to… lower. That's typically the case.**_

 _ **Light Show (Passive) Paired with Body Swap, an effect of changing from normal to a human body or vice versa. Light is released from the magic re-entering the magic pool, then followed by darkness from the space now void of magical energy. Can result in blinding.**_

 _ **Magic Meltdown (Passive): An effect of having massive magical pools without any way of venting it. Effects can vary from sickness to magical flames erupting from limbs or body parts. Can also be caused by Intense Rage or extreme magic use when paired with the Shadow Eye ability. Also known as a sign of weakness.**_

 _ **Shadow Eye (Ability): They say the eyes are the window to the SOUL. The user knows differently, as they can make theirs disappear on command. No side effects or physical effects, good for threatening. DeveLopeD bY**_ _ **ERRoR/?**_

 _ **Shortcut (Ability): Sans is able to teleport up to 500 Miles away if the known X and Y coordinates are present. However, without a picture of the location he cannot choose the altitude of his teleport. Without a picture he will ALWAYS land upon the highest land mass he can physically enter. (Ex. Rooftop) MUST be created in a shadow.**_

 _ **Time Slow (S Ability): A move not to be taken lightly. It can slow, or even freeze time. However, great power comes with great responsibility. It is a MAJOR (as marked by the "S") ability, and saps immense amounts of magical energy. The more energy that is prohibited by this ability, the more magical energy sapped. Not recommended for battle, especially one with high energy weaponry.**_

 _ **Voice Distortion (Ability): Much like the Shadow Eye ability, this is a way to intimidate your opponent. It gives Sans the ability to make his voice gain an echo and produce a hollow sound. Perfect for declaring the state of the world from a hallway.**_


	18. Total Breakdown Finale

**:)**

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXxX**_

Chapter 18: Total Breakdown Finale

"Tell me Jim, what do you think of the whole ordeal with what the kids call: The Level Upper?" an anchoress told her fellow anchor on the Seven Alive Newscast for Academy City. Jim, the apparent other anchor at the table, sipped his coffee before speaking.

"Now Josie, the decision for Judgement to outlaw the usage of this tool is, in my opinion, actually a smart play. We don't know the side effects of such a device yet on the public use." he explained to the stunning brunette beside him, but more importantly the audience listening, "For any of you who don't know yet, the Level Upper is supposedly a device that gives the user temporary Esper abilities. An astonishing feat for something sold on the black market!"

Josie, the female anchoress, took the lead on the conversation again as he finish explaining the Level Upper, "Yes it's very beneficial in hindsight, but looking back we can see it's not all good. As the criminal Kaitabi Hatsuya, also known as the Metallic Terrorist, has been reported to have used the same substance to upgrade his powers and use them for evil."

"But could it not also be used to create heroes like those who work in Antiskill and Judgement as well? The way I see it a person should be allowed to have the choice on if they would or would not desire to use such an ability to help push themselves to a further level, but only under the pretext that they do it for good." Jim debated, showing the good side of a possible argument for recreational use of the Level Upper.

"But how do you know for sure that they will use it for good? Without an obvious kill switch to their new powers they might go on to do more good than harm. What do you think, Academy City?" Josie rebutted his argument, then turned to the film crew's camera. The clean filter on the lense became more noticeable and less subtle as the camera zoomed in closer, "Do you think the Level Upper should be used or condemned? Let's contact our expert at Judgement right now…."

A segway appeared on screen, just a quick flash of red and blue, leading to a man outside a rather large building on the street. A microphone was in his hand, and daily life for thousands of people went on all around him without much more than a glance. Well, except for the man beside him in a slim cut tuxedo. Presumably this was the man from Judgement.

"Ahemmm! Thank you Josie, here we have Taylor Porklein, head of the 425th division of Judgement here on main street." The new speaker told the audience, motioning to the well dressed man next to him, "Tell me Porklein, what are your thoughts on the Level Upper?"

The mic pointed towards Mr. Taylor, he leaned down from his high stature and spoke with a clear baritone voice, "I believe the Level Upper should be taken off the streets as soon as possible. It isn't fit for daily life here in Academy City and is not welcome. The chance of a catastrophic outbreak of espers threatening the population is much higher than the chance of a harmonious society of espers in this day and age."

The interviewer was quick to offer a counter argument, almost interrupting Porklein, "Even in the event of national security? What about those willing to give a big enough paycheck?" he told the man, trying to shake his faith in a good argument like he was trained.

"Well you see-" Before Mr. Taylor could even finish his sentence an explosion could be heard in the background, causing everyone in the surrounding area to cover their heads and crouch in reflex. A plume of smoke could be seen rising from somewhere downtown. A panic set in as people began to run and hide. Taylor whipped his hand up to his earpiece and radioed out…

"All units of Judgement 425, an unknown explosion has occurred two blocks from Main Street. People are in panic and we need to calm down the public so Antiskill can arrive and assess the damage. I repeat, all units of Judgement 425, an unknown explosion has occurred two blocks from Main Street. Come as fast as possible." he quickly sputtered off before running off the sectioned off sidewalk to help people. Truly a dedicated man.

The news station was in high octane overdrive now even with the cameras temporarily off, both anchors Jim and Josie in full alert and ready to relay information to the public in some attempt to keep calm amidst the chaos. After all it was only one explosion… right?

"One on Port's avenue, one on Lysers street, another on Jackson interstate, and just in one more from Belegrin street. Over thirty casualties so far and climbing." An underpaid but equally worried backstage employee rattled off to Jim and Josie, "We don't have enough time to write you a script so you'll have to mad lib this one, but keep in mind that it's confirmed this was no accident. We'll keep you updated."

Before either of the anchors had a time to react the cameras were already aimed at them and preparing to fire, "Action on 3! 1… 2…. 3…"

Jim calmly rested his arms onto the desk in order to stop the shaking of nervousness, but actually making him look more under control, "Hello Academy City, within the last five minutes breaking news has hit us without warning. A large scale terrorist attack has hit the city targeting random locations throughout various locations. Current targets are unknown, but we advise you get into the nearest building as fast as possible to prevent further injuries and to help Antiskill move throughout the city."

"-yes, and please remember to be careful around children, elderly, and other frail people. They might need your help to find a safe location." Josie added onto his comment quickly, thinking of all the children who might get separated from their parents and old people without someone to push their wheelchairs.

"Stay tuned for more information, we will relay it the moment we receive it…"

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

 _ **30 Minutes later, Seventh Mist**_

"Oh my god…. what is this?" a member of Antiskill asked aloud to his fellow members, his laser guided scope pointed towards the black and grey oil oozing from the top corners of the room. His training had meant to prepare him for the worst… but not this load of crap.

"It's gotta be some rogue esper with a new ability from the Level Upper. Keep your gua-"

"T-t-this is no e-esper, it's a d-d-demon! L-lo-ook…" a more nervous newbie pointed out, his flashlight attachment shining on the hardened black remains of a mother holding her child in her arms. Both remained hardened under a.. Well solid version of the oil on the walls, and to be honest the image scared the hell out of the men there. One even vomited, light stomach?

The group of seven walked very slowly around the dark, trying to scout out what used to be the Seventh Mist shopping mall. Now, after the explosion had gone off a few minutes prior, it was as if the doors of death had welcomed its embrace here. Everything felt cold, and more importantly smelt like corpses.

"Yukom, Pedileski, Reggim, Kim. All of you go take the staircase and look for survivors on the second and third floor. Hanzi and Edward, you're with me." the commander barked out the orders to the pack, no one daring to defy his words. He just hoped he wasn't condemning his men to death.

" _Indeed you are Mister."_ a voice called out into the darkened room. The members immediately created a circle formation to cover all angles, searching through shelves and clothes racks to try and find the origin of the voice. However they'd need more than a flashlight and a set of eyes to notice the target they desired. " _Do you fear death?"_

A man dropped dead amidst their ranks, all guns turning to the rookie as he doubled over with blood pouring out from around him. Whoever this was meant business, maybe the killer behind the deaths around Academy City?

" _You shouldn't. I know what it feels like to die. There's nothing. No god, no hell. You can be free. Free from the burdens of this world. I can ease your pain..."_ the voice talked again. The remaining members began to panic as two more of them dropped dead. Hanzi and Pedileski chose this time to break rank and make a break for the exit doors, only resulting in two more casualties as the voice took a total of four more lives in an instant.

" _Let me free you from this pointless existence."_

Reggim fell to the ground next, his head completely removed from his body. It made the commander freeze in fear, the world coming to a temporary standstill. He could have sworn that black ooze came from the corpse in place of the blood that should have.

" _It will all be forgotten. In vain. Your life means nothing to this world, I would know."_

The body of a strange child with stripes came into view. His body looked like a dinosaur somewhat… it had a tail and everything. He was a monster kid, and just by looking at him the commander could tell that it wasn't human… not even in the slightest. Not only that, but this… thing… would be the Angel of Death today, the devourer of souls. His soul to be exact.

However the Commander didn't cower in the face of death like the others. He was the only one of the group that had stared death in the face before and come to terms with his own mortality. Instead of cowering, the Commander fell to his knees like a warrior ready for the chopping block. A soldier who had lost his army.

But death did not envelop him.

Looking back up, the creature had disappeared. No longer did the room seem to radiate evil, but instead just continue to emanate the stench of death. He had been spared. As a soul survivor or as a warning…. that part wasn't clear. Yet even after being so calm before, he felt tears fall down his eyes. Tears that no onlooker could understand. Tears that didn't belong, didn't make sense. Why would a man cry that he had been spared when all of his friends were dead?

Reaching down to his side pouch, he procured a simple walkie-talkie to report the happenings into. Maybe if he was the first one to arrive at one of the bomb sites no one else would have to deal with the monster? Or was this the only place?

"This is Commander Morrison from Unit 09 of Antiskill anti-terrorist task force. I need to report the deaths of six out of six men in my unit. Seventh Mist is not a safe zone, I repeat not a safe zone….."

Static replied out to him instead of the voice of another human. It had to be that monsters doing, there was no way it had managed to kill the people at antiski-

"...Copy that Co… nder Morrison, evacuate to a sa.. *static* -tion and we'll evacuate you ASAP, you copy?" a staticy voice answered his head across the line. Inside somewhere he thanked whatever deity was in the sky, also he had something not done, surprisingly, when he thought he was going to die. Actually, on the thought of death… imagine the casualties if that beast was still around here? Could he really live with their deaths too?

He hit the button again, holding the mic up point blank to his mouth to insure his message got across to the other side, "No!" …. "Stay away…"

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

The sound of sirens blaring out in the distance caught all of their attention. It wasn't the sound of an announcement PSA or even just someone with their finger on the button for too long. No, this was the sound broadcasted in an absolute emergency. The nuclear lockdown warning, giving all citizens exactly thirty seconds to get indoors before all blast doors shut and prepared for the worst.

Whatever had happened must have been something very bad, as something was drastically wrong if the city was willing to go to this extent.

In fact, they were on the rooftop... how could things be worse?

"you know… it might be a little early to make a joke here, especially given the mood.. but even with these sirens going off, we might wanna _.. make like a banana and split."_ Sans joked towards the two girls, an attempt at a smile on his face. However it wasn't too sincere with all the tears down his cheeks.

The two girls glared at the skeleton, perhaps it wasn't too late to finish this after all... " _i cope with sadness with comedy. sue me."_ he stated in response, the two girls rolling their eyes and quickly teleporting indoors to safety. The sound of grinding gears turning could be heard as the safety barricade began to cascade down the windows. Soon they would be trapped in here, well until they decided to teleport out. Given the sirens though that wouldn't be the best idea.

"Alright." Kuroko spoke aloud, "Alright alright. What could the sirens be? Malfunction? Last ditch effort to catch the doctor?" she guessed as she threw ideas around in hopes of finding a solid idea that didn't mean something terrible was roaming around outside, "Maybe it was an attempt to test out the city's crisis response!"

"I don't know why they'd choose now of all times though…" Misaka answered the rhetorical question, putting her hand up to her chin, "I mean besides Doctor Harumi, what else is there to worry about? Did we mess something while we were off fighting?"

"what if us fighting was what they called it on? two level fives brawling it out in the evacuated area and making progress towards civilization. it makes sense, we were only a few blocks away from occupied buildings." Sans suggested, surprisingly willing to talk about the fight that he commenced and had been crying about moments prior. Was he bi-polar or something? "however, we need to take inventory of things we know first before theorizing over what will happen."

Misaka began racking her brain for things she knew she had said needed to be done, "Well, first there's the doctor. We needed to catch her. Secondly, we needed to… oh my god we forgot all about Uiharu!" she exclaimed, thinking of everything that had went down. How could they have forgotten about their innocent petite friend?!

"huh? what's wrong with Uiharu?" Sans asked, oblivious to what had happened at the office.. Or really anything before the fight. It was all sort of a blur of him taking down criminals as a vigilante and then losing Papyrus's scarf. A day he definitely wouldn't forget in a blur.

"Uiharu went to see Docto- wait, you don't know about that either do you?" Misaka recalled, realizing that most of their involvement with the Level Upper had been kept a secret from Saten and Sans. The only reason she knew herself was due to her frequent stops at Judgement and involvement in stopping Level Upper users. "Well, uh… where do I even star-"

"You know how me and Uiharu work for Judgement, right?" Kuroko interrupted, an action that wasn't that strange overall for someone so… hyperactive, "Well after a while in the office trying to discover where the Level Upper came from, we came to the conclusion it was putting people into comas." she explained as fast as possible, skimming over the section where they found Saten strangely lurking around a shady group of Level Upper Suspects.

Misaka was the next to speak up, "Erm… long story short we found out the brainwaves were linked to sync to a brainwave that put them into a coma." she told him, realizing she would need to dumb it down a little bit since he didn't get the opportunity to have one of the world's leading doctors explain it to him with the help of diagrams, "In other words they are putting people into comas using radi-"

"radio waves. though it's the esper field network, right? since it's a proven fact all espers emit a field equal to their power, whoever created the level upper found a way to physically link these together while also syncing the brains electron and photon ratio to a set beat that lulled them into a coma… clever." Sans processed, his brow furrowed in thought. He was the lab assistant to the smartest monster to ever live, and technically a scientist.

Misaka and Kuroko both were taken aback by his outburst. He actually got all of that down to the scientific base? How could someone who sleeps through class and barely passes classes have the capacity to do that? Regardless, after the shock faded for a moment they noticed the patient look on Sans face as he waited for the duo to continue explaining.

"O-oh yeah. Sorry." Misaka spoke up, slightly blushing for some odd reason, "So Uiharu went to see Doctor Harumi.. And it turns out she was the one who created the level upper. So Uiharu kidnapped her and I was going after her before… well…"

Before Sans had the chance to say anything in reply to the new information, Kuroko's bag began to vibrate in a loud obnoxious tone. She looked down at her side, totally forgetting she even had the small satchel on her when she left to follow and find Uiharu, it was barely touched by the fight somehow, and as she took out the phone it looked in almost pristine condition, "Hello?"

The room filled with silence as they all waited for a reply, the phone on speaker. Static was coming from the other side which was strange for a connection like this. Suddenly the voice spoke, " _Requesting all Judgment members over Level 3 to make their way to the Antiskill West Wing if at all possible. Security code to let up the barricade temporarily is 09871236. I repeat, requesting all Judgment members over Level 3 to make their way to the Antiskill West Wing if at all possible. Security code to let up the barricade temporarily is 09871236."_

"West wing? That's the military wing right?" Misaka asked, getting a nod from Kuroko before looking back to Sans. Whatever was coming was bound to be nasty, it was the only reason they would go as drastic as to pull the barriers down, "Sans, I know we're not really on the best terms right now… but-"

"yeah i'm going." Sans answered before she could even finish. If he kept doing that it might become a troupe for him, "i can't exactly win back some trust by hiding out in this abandoned place, heh."

The phone speaker spoke again, the three remembering the phone call wasn't over yet, " _Member responsible for the death of the majority of Unit 09_ _Antiskill Terrorist Response has been killed. Everyone, be on the lookout for the following report straight and uncensored from Commander Morrison's last update at the Seventh Mist."_

A momentary silence filled the room again as the static halted at the loading of the new audio feed being relayed through, " _This is Commander Morrison from Unit 09 of Antiskill anti-terrorist task force. I need to report the deaths of six out of six men in my unit. Seventh Mist is not a safe zone, I repeat not a safe zone….._ " the iconic cackle filled the line as the operator processed the information and said her reply:

" _Copy that Commander Morrison, evacuate to a safe location and we'll evacuate you ASAP, you copy?_ " the female voice replied to the commander and his dead unit. Even though many silences had come since the trio had been patiently listening to the audio file, this one seemed erie and hollow in comparison. It felt almost otherworldly, as did the reply.

" _No! Stay away. S-stay away. There's some kind of monster up here. It's smallish, totally grey and white with hints of black. It killed my squad in seconds without as much as lifting a finger. Hell, the thing didn't even have arms. Looked like an f-ing dinosaur. I have no excuse for why I was spared from his rapid murders._ " Commander Morrison explained to the person at Antiskill HQ.

"wait, no… i must've heard that wrong. did either of you happen to hear him describe the monster as a dinosaur without arms?" Sans questioned, his interest in the description clearly peaked. It almost looked as if there was a tinge of fear in his eyes.

"...yeah? Why, do you know about someone like that?" Misaka answered, watching Sans already pale complexion go almost to a ghost like trance. Speaking of ghosts, it looked as if he'd seen one to describe him accurately.

Sans clenched his trembling fist shut, images of a different world line floating through his head like a riverboat, "y-yeah… you could say that. we used to call him Monster Bro."

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXxXx**_

"Let me get this straight." Misaka said, gripping the car seat in an attempt not to be thrown across the back of the cab. Who knew that Sans could drive? (he wasn't that good anyways…) "You have gone back in time before? And you know this Monster Bro from another timeline?"

Sans shook his head, "no, i just told you. i can remember whenever someone else time travels. i can't do anything about it and just go with it. Monster Bro was the brother of another kid in a town called Snowdin, but he was killed to the point he was wiped from the timeline entirely." he tried to explain without confusing the two passengers in the car any further. "so now he's back from the other side with some sort of grudge against humans for killing him."

Kuroko rubbed her temples, her head almost slamming into the window as Sans took an unprecedented turn at high speed down the abandoned streets, "Wait, you're talking as if he has a grudge against humans. Do you mean Humanity, or is he really some sort of monster?"

The ex-skeleton considered his response carefully before responding. He wasn't entirely sure how they would respond if they knew he wasn't human, or how he gained his humanity. How would anyone react rationally knowing occasionally there's the voice of a dead kid in your head, monster or human?

"uhh…. yeah. we were a weird crew back there. didn't i tell you about the time i got stuck in a refrigerator?" he suggested the alternate topic with very poor transition. Maybe if he wasn't so focused on trying not to hit random cars or street signs he'd be fine. However it seemed as if neither of the girls looked into it too much, or cared as neither responded.

The car fell back into silence as the trio approached the inner parts of the silent city, the outlines of other living people finally visible in the distance. They had almost arrived at their destination, the Antiskill West Wing.

Pulling off of the road and into a sloppy parking job with one wheel popped up onto the sidewalk, the trio unbuckled and disembarked from their dark stallion. They looked forward to see the concerned faces of Judgment members and Antiskill alike being given weapons and ammunition, then assigned a block number.

The building that stood behind the mass of people like a monolith of concrete sent a lovely shadow down to overcast them. Everything seemed so uniform and clean here, yet as they ascended the concrete steps of the West Wing they couldn't help but feel like cattle to the slaughter. At least with information they might at least be of some help to the officials calling the shots.

"Judgement or Antiskill?" the person at the makeshift desk asked them. He was sitting behind the desk with a signature heavy-duty grade laptop and a clipboard with various papers attached, pen in hand and an impatient look on his face, "I said, Judgment or Antiskill?"

"Judgement, but look we have important information that needs to get to General Wourth." Kuroko told him, pulling at the green arm band on her upper right arm. However even with the three people behind her the desk man couldn't seem less interested. He put his hands to his keyboard and let his dull grey eyes look up at Kuroko.

"Judgement id number?" he asked impatiently, totally disregarding Kuroko's request to speak with General Wourth. This time it was Misaka who decided to take action.

The Electromaster stormed forwards and slammed her palms onto the table, arks of electricity coming off of her making the laptop screen flicker and threaten to shut down. As fast as she did it, she came to regret it as hundreds of guns instantly pointed at the sound of a potential threat… as they should on high alert. That was the entire point of a check in center anyways.

A standstill happened from this point for a few seconds. No one dared to move in fear of a firefight breaking out, well that was until a lady dressed in full Antiskill attire walked out from one of the doors of West Wing, "What's the meaning of this Pontiff?" she asked with her fist up, all the armed men in uniform putting their guns down. The others who had much less experience or had just been temporarily recruited put theirs down soon after.

"Captain!" the man at the desk soluted in a panic, apparently named Pontiff, "These people came up here demanding things as I was trying to sign them in, captain!" Pontiff exclaimed in his defense. The captain looked up at the trio at the desk along with a few others who had appeared to form a line behind them.

"And what are your demands exactly, miss Mikoto Misaka?" the Captain asked, sending a shocked face to Pontiff to the fact that she actually knew this seemingly random person.

Another arc of electricity came off of Misaka in annoyance, "I said, I want to speak to General Wourth, captain. We have information on this monster hunt you're after." she explained to the lady, who simply nodded in response.

The Captain signaled for the trio to follow, Pontiff confused on if he was to keep going on his now fried laptop or not. Perhaps the best part of the entire scenario was the choice of Misaka to stick out her tongue like a child at him. The ultimate ' _haha I win screw you_ ' she could come up with at the time.

Now they walked up the steps and into the building, the number of armed men running around seemingly increasing as they went deeper and deeper. They went through at least two massive rooms meant for outsiders view to see Antiskill's power, and after that it was mostly hallways and office rooms. It was actually a surprise to them to discover that the famous leader of Antiskill West Wing, General Wourth, was just hanging around in one of these box offices.

Entering the bland room with the elegant magenta rug and maps spanning across the globe, they saw the muscled man standing over a table with several other men. Most likely strategizing an attack formation to stop whatever deadly beast Commander Morrison had encountered at the Seventh Mist.

"General, these claim to have some information of use for you about Zed." the Commander who had escorted them informed The General. He and all the other men at the table turned to look at who could possibly have information on the mysterious beast they were up against. Had he been spotted again?

"Thank you, Commander. Return to your post while I talk to these fine kids." he commanded, the Commander taking leave as told. The door shut behind her as The General beckoned the trio over, "My word, you haven't gotten into trouble getting here have you? Look at yourselves!"

Misaka and Kuroko had totally forgotten how beaten up they must have looked. Sans had given them quite the beating, their arms and legs cut up and bruised in several places. Not to mentioned their tattered uniforms riddled with holes. Despite this, they didn't feel a lick of fatigue. "Oh, just a little bit, sir. Ran into a fire on the way here."

The General nodded, stroking his beard in heavy thought as he overlooked the now visible map on the table. Several flags had been placed along different locations in the city, a total of 11. One however had a big red circle around it for a couple miles in each direction, "Now, your knowledge on Zed, the monster who killed Commander Morrison's unit?"

"his name is Monster Bro, but he likely goes by Goner Kid now." Sans spoke up, grabbing the red marker off of the table, "given the information told by Commander Morrison, he is covered in void residue making him invisible. that's why he looks grey and white." he explained, drawing an arrow from their location at Antiskill HQ to the bay, the opposite direction of Goner Kids last known location, "he'll be going to the water where he's the strongest."

"And how do you know he's strongest in the water?" one of the men asked, trying to think of any logical reason not to abandon the strategy they were already working on, "Besides, he's already demonstrated his strength. Why would he need environmental advantage?"

Sans spit in his hand and tried his best to wipe away the arrow he drew, "fair enough, but if he's not attacking then what's he doing? setting an example? he has the ability to run through walls, extremely sharp head spikes, and petrifying touch. aka if he touches you your body will shatter across the timelines."

"I have so many questi-"

"and no time to ask them. look bud, the longer we stand here the more time Goner Kid has to kill innocent people on there here by your orders. i say if we're going to move an army to the Seventh Mist we do it sooner than later." Sans told the man bluntly, avoiding any questions on how he knows Goner Kid. Lucky for him The General didn't seem to care.

Clapping his hands together The General bought into his philosophy and started giving orders, "Assemble everyone ready to move out in the square. We march out in 15 sharp, understood?" he called out, two men saluting in response before quickly leaving the room. The General looked back at Sans, "I like you kid. What's your name?"

The lucky Level 5 shrugged towards Misaka and Kuroko before letting out his signature cocky, long wink out, "Ariel. Ariel Gaster, but my friends call me Sans."

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

"What are you expecting when we go inside?" The General questioned the much shorter new friend of his. The two currently stood at the foot of The Seventh Mist, the blockade doors sealed tight on the outside like every other building in the city.

"eh, to be honest it's either gonna be a bloody brawl or a talk show. both end up with bad results either way." Sans joked, hoping to lighten the mood. However, The General did not laugh, "if you're expecting a peace treaty as an option either, good luck. Goner Kid has seen too much to consider peace if he's really as hostile as i think he should be."

Sans would know about seeing to much, he had almost made that mistake today.

- _THUD-_

A hammer sound resounded through the air with a sudden bash. A big dent in the steel could be seen from the entrance. Something wasn't very happy with being inside, and it had no intentions of keeping it that way.

- _THUD-_

The dent grew again, threatening to bust this time given the next attack was strong enough. One final thud and every gun in a mile radius was pointed at the metal door with a hole beaten in it, and at the beast that stood inside it. The beast held the same description given by Commander Morrison, yet it seemed only more so that words couldn't truly describe the sight at hand, it was the Goner Kid himself.

Goner Kid stood at 4 feet tall, a diminishing number for someone who looked like they belonged in a morgue with their sunken eyes and diminished gaze. He could almost be considered a child if it weren't for the sags of skin that literally melted down from his arms, most likely a result of being in the void. " _Glad to see everyone could make it to the party, and here I was thinking you may have missed the invitation I left."_ he smirked, eyeing all of the people in the area to decide his next move.

"Surrender now before we let loose out arsenal, there is no need for further violence if you come quietly." The General stated, well aware that the chances of this working were very slim. They didn't raise idiots in antiskill after all. Chances were that Goner Kid had a trump card.

" _No thanks, and any attempts to shoot me might kill Commander Morrison or the Doctor responsible for the Level Upper behind me. Willing to take the risk, or can I send my message and take my leave now?"_ Goner Kid taunted, yet no one shot. No one wanted to kill the doctor and risk losing all of the Level Upper patients in the hospital.

" _Good, first I would like to say that Doctor Gaster sends his regards. Today's exercise was a test of your defenses, and even more so a call to arms to the human race."_ Goner Kid explained, starting a very slow pace atop the highest stairs to the main entrance, " _Gaster wishes to get revenge for what your kind did to ours so many years ago, but to prevent any uprising under his new rule…"_

Monster kid shot his arm out into a balled fist, " _We will crush the human race when they're at their strongest, so we can kick you to your weakest."_ he smirked cockily, spelling out his master plan, " _We took down your center of Economic power, Seventh Mist. Your center of political power, the State building. Your center of scientific power, the Tree Diagram contact center. Your center of industrial might, the omega factory. And while you're all here, the other followers should be done with the distractions and the destruction of your symbol of Military Might, The West Wing."_

Uneasy eyes shot around, it wasn't true was it? No, no one could attack the West Wing and get away with it. Not without their full force attacking, and as long as Goner Kid was here then the blunt force wasn't there, right?

" _We will be back to bring you all to your knees in two years time. Prepare, train, and fight your hardest. As long as you do that, and everyone see's you did it at your strongest… then we can avoid any issues with uprisings far surpassing your deaths."_ He explained, listing out to everyone his expectations.

No one said anything to each other or spoke out against their newest enemy. They simply watched, either in fear of the possibility of backing up such a threat or awe of someone being so full of themselves. However his next sentence is what really put force behind his threat…

" _Oh, and did I mention I lied about the Doctor you're looking for? By this point she should have already started the final attack, knocking out your power!"_ Goner Kid exclaimed as he began to evaporate into seemingly thin air. People fired shots off at him, but it seemed to already be of no use.

Goner Kid had escaped.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

"next time i jump this far, i might need to _back_ it down a little bit. my bones are sore." Sans exclaimed. He had just teleported from the Seventh Mist to the power plant on the opposite side of the city in one go, not to mention his power exhaustion from his battle earlier. "let's just hurry up and stop the doc so I can get home and nap, kay?"

Both Misaka and Kuroko, still a bit dizzy from their first time being teleported by Sans anywhere. Just what the hell was that place anyways, there were so many lights yet so little… was it limbo between worlds? Was it some purgatory? Or both?

"Goner Kid said she should be here right?" Misaka asked, looking out from the rooftop of the Nuclear Power Plant. "I'm honestly confused, and not just by the lack of the do-"

"I'm already here, but I'm not the one you should be worrying about." a voice said from behind. The girls got into a fighting stance immediately while Sans just looked over his shoulder. Low and behold, there the enemy lie. The doctor herself stood there in her labcoat and all, the wind blowing through it making her look stunning.

"lemme guess. Gaster double cross you?" Sans asked without a care in the world. Doctor Harumi closed her weary eyes in some odd sense of confirmation from scientist to scientist. A bond that no one could understand, no one could see, yet it still existed in this exact moment.

She bowed her head, her lip trembling, "So it's that obvious huh? Hahahaha...haha…" she laughed to herself, "I joined up with him because he promised to help me get the results I needed, turns out he actually just used my Level Upper as a distraction to kill people. I don't think the assassinations were his original intention, but it turns out to have worked in his favor. He killed a lot of the community's support." she explained, still not opening her eyes.

"eh, it's fine. you're not exactly the first to be double cro-"

"No! You don't understand!" she interrupted him, her arms shaking by how hard she was clenching her fists, "That Goner Kid used MY level upper to kill people. I'd use anyone in this entire city if it meant accomplishing my goals, but one of those men that died was the dadd… father of one of my old students. Whenever I wake them up, she won't have a family to come back to and it's my fault….."

The four of them sat in silence as the feeling of helplessness set in. They had all been played in one way or another, and that realization was beginning to set in. Due to the murders by Gaster the city was unable to heal Sans quickly during his hospitalization after the original incident at the Seventh Mist. Due to his interference in Sans memories, she had come to doubt him and caused the fight in the first place letting Doctor Harumi get away.

Kuroko had let her obsession with the murder cases blind her from looking further into the Level Upper case and bought the doctor more time to run away with her powers. Even the doctor had gained nothing since she didn't get the desired results from her test…

Or did she?

"Hey Doc, what was the purpose of your experiments anyways?" Kuroko asked, thinking about possible reasons to why the doctor would need people in a coma state. However instead of answering the doctor simply pointed into the distance, a big white blob slightly resembling a baby came into view. A big blue jeletal membrane was protruding from the top of its head, a brain perhaps?

"That would be my experiment." she explained, walking up from behind to join the other three observing the monstrosity from a distance, "Gaster has a special chemical named Chem X, it's designed to control dreams but in high doses can also cause rage. He claimed to be using it on someone else to make sure they would be out of commision, he never told me who it was though."

"And that created this.. How?" Kuroko questioned again. Her friend Saten was in that thing too most likely. Saten had after all fallen into a coma like everyone else, "And what about Uiharu, the girl who visited you?"

Harumi didn't take her eyes off the baby creature, "Uiharu is fine, I sent her to the hospital with a song that will counteract the Level Upper, and as for the creature? It's a result of Gaster injecting me with Chem X. The thing came out of me shortly after and I'm still at a loss for words on how it is alive." she explained, a lost gaze in her eyes as she looked upon her creation.

Sans felt a little better about himself now, choosing to believe he was a victim of Chem X. Well, at least until he got a little better at dealing with emotions. It was something he was new with dealing with, you know. Possibly a result of a certain childish demon, "well…. we came here to stop an attack. so how about we stop an attack before this big ball of flesh starts a nuclear meltdown?"

The electromaster nodded in agreement, but threw her arm out to a certain female teleporter right after, "You should stay here though Kuroko. Don't think I didn't notice you limping around. You'll be blood in the water out there." Misaka warned, a look of understanding being exchanged between their eyes. That being done, Misaka turned back to Sans who held his hands out ready to take a shortcut into the closest shadow to the thing.

The fun was about to begin.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

Tentacle's whipped around the floating baby like worms writhing in the sunlight. Voices of despair yelled from inside the creature, calling out their final hopes and unachievable dreams that could have been fulfilled with the help of the Level Upper.

" _Those stupid esper freaks couldn't in a million years understand how I feel!"_

" _If I could have had powers, maybe I could have stopped my sister's death! Where were the espers when she got her head blown off?!"_

" _I wouldn't have gotten fired from my job if I didn't have to compete with these superhuman freaks!"_

Misaka let out the first attack, jumping from their spot behind the baby. Her electricity shot up through the tentacle and right into the body. However instead of a hole being burned around the body or even charring, it actually grew in size. The tentacles, once the size of small rods, grew to the size of a slightly bigger rod. So not that big of a change there.

"heads up." she heard from beside her, a bone slicing apart two of the tentacles gunning right for her from above, "call me sherlock here, but i think that thing is gonna get bigger if you use your electricity watson. got something else?" Sans asked, teleporting beside her with beads of sweat already dripping from his forehead. He really had used up quite a bit of energy before.

Misaka nodded a pulled the ironsands from the Earth, effectively making a makeshift sword from the earth. At least now she had a weapon to defend herself from the hoards of tentacles that protected the body. Suddenly a familiar sound filled the air, a hiss almost? It was then followed by the sound of a popping noise. One of Sans Hyperbeams.

The beam ripped through the head of the child, going in one side and exiting through the other. It almost worked for a second, but the key word was almost. It still managed to reform and it grew in size once again. It was feeding off of the energy used to attack it.

" _I will bring Judgement to it's knees!"_

Misaka was the next one to think of an attack plan, one that would require both of their abilites, "Sans! Take out the tentacles and I'll attack the base!" she called out in his direction, getting a nod in response. "I'm sorry about this everyone. I know it's unfair for me to get to be an esper and you not. I'll try and make this quick."

A voly of bones assaulted the underbrush of tentacles, cutting some off instantly while others just suffered from a small cut. They were actually surprisingly easy to take down given this same attack just gave Kuroko and Misaka cuts and bruises. Speaking of Misaka, her attacks were working quite well in cooperation with Sans. The fine black iron sand slit right through the skin with ease, and it didn't seem to result in growth either.

The two only increased the quantity of their attacks even more after seeing their success work, it was surprisingly non offensive for something so menacing looking. Without it's tentacles it might as well have been a-

" _I'm gonna teach those cocky espers a lesson one day! Mock my words!"_

A beam of light shot out from the child's mouth, the same hyper beam Sans had been named after. The shot was just as powerful as Sans and you could easily see the charred flesh caused by the powerful attack. Wait a minute…. It was healing. So was the skin she was attacking. They were making no progress at all!

Sans saw the same thing she did as the missed shot of the hyperbeam went overhead, and teleported back over to think of a new strategy. He was really starting to run out of steam here, not to mention the Power Plant was getting closer and closer by the second. There was one thing they could try, though it could end in tragedy. Not like they had another choice right now anyways.

"Sans, you know why they call me Railgun right?" she told him, pulling out a coin from her pocket with a sheen in her eye, "What's the most powerful hyperbeam you've got?"

Sans eyes lit up light a lightbulb as he got the got the message. Though they would need a good spot to charge up and fire….

" _No one's ever gonna pick on my family again!"_

Teleporting them back to the wall of the facility, they truly realized that if this didn't work there wouldn't be much other choice than to try and remove the uranium from the facility. They'd only get one shot, maybe two if Sans could charge up one fast enough. She'd better start gathering energy now herself...

"whelp. here goes nothing…." Sans said, a massive Gaster Blaster appearing above his head, the size of a car. Coin between her fingers, Misaka flipped the nickel into the air, watching with a precise eye for the right time to strike.

"Hope you're ready for our special attack!" Misaka called out, the coin falling back down to earth in sync with the bone chilling crack of the massive skull behind her. Smirking, the coin fell back to her fingers in perfect sync and she let go all of the energy she had been holding up. Electricity coursed through her body as she became a living lightning rod, channeling all of her potential energy into electrical energy that came pulsing out of her body. It didn't stop there however, it hit the coin and the power became magnified as a conductor was found.

The railgun of electricity let forth with astounding power, but it was nothing in comparison to a regular one. The air cracked open with a fierce defiance of will, screaming as the raw power in the air shot out and into the air.

The beam hit dead onto the membrane of the beast, disintegrating it instantly. That didn't stop the beam though, it came out of the other side and shot for miles into the skies. White rings appeared around the beam itself as the heat caused clouds to form. Talk about overkill.

The smoke cleared, and in its wake laid the corpse of a mind-baby that should have never existed in the first place. Turns out the makeshift special attack was actually more effective than they could have hoped for. Who knew that an electric beam and a light beam could combine to make something with energy rivaling a large hadron collider?

Even more so, who could have predicted it was this would be the start of something much needed by the two Level 5's: A seed of friendship. Something that, yes, would need to be nurtured and cared for, but at least it was a start.

Watching the smoke clear out, Misaka next to him and just as out of breath as him from the feeling they just experienced. They had actually managed to stop it somehow. Score one for team Sans, or was it team Railgun?

"i... i think that's worth a hotdog r-right? heh... heh…" Sans smarted off, his body totally exhausted not only from his biggest Gaster Blaster yet, but from his previous usage of the human soul in him that was catching up.

"Yeah… Yeah Sans… I could really go for a hotdog right now myself." she got out between breaths, her wounds from her fight with Sans re-opened. Sure dinner might be a little awkward with the whole declaration of war and key points of the city totally destroyed now.. but one step at a time right?

Yeah, that's how they would take it now. One step at a time.

"You think they'll have extra ketchup at the diner downtown?" Misaka smiled, a slight blush on her cheeks as a realization hit that this could be considered flirting. She could only imagine Kuroko's stomping around from above.

The two then let out a laugh, a genuine laugh she hadn't had since the party for Sans birthday.

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXx**_

Sans laid in the bed, his body unable to move. Everything was beyond sore, it was like a flashback from his sessions with Gaster in the lab back then. Even so, at least something in him had grown back a little bit. He couldn't tell if it was in his own soul or the human soul that coexisted with it, but whatever it was…. It felt nice.

In the end, the aftermath of the attacks on Academy City left much of its power weakened to the point of almost total reconstruction. Not to mention the death toll, over two thousand dead including the majority who died in the surprise attack on West Wing. It was truly a scary day for humanity, officially after war was formally declared on Gaster. It was a miracle The General didn't force more about Goner Kid out of him. Time would only tell if he would be called back for that.

In other news, the world seemed to be holding himself and Misaka as heroes for stopping the beast from hitting the power plant. Even Uiharu got some attention after waking up all of the Level Upper patient's. However, Doctor Harumi and the Level Upper users who broke the law still went to jail.

Strangest thing was that Gaster was nowhere to be found.

Something still bugged him though, why had he apologized to Misaka and Kuroko? Was he that desperate for friends? No, that wasn't right. He was apologizing for not fighting sooner like he did today back in the underground. Maybe then when Frisk quit, someone could have been there to celebrate victory with him

Sans closed his eyes, the realm of sleep just a few moments from the back of his eyelids. The world was fading away from him, his mind going numb under the trance of sleep. He hoped for good dreams tonight, maybe the one where Papyrus made him a cake instead of spaghetti? Yeah, that would be a good dream. A perfect end to a harsh day.

His world faded into black, his reality becoming a dream. He opened his eyes to a familiar light. It shone around him in a harrowing spite. It was a dream from back in the Underground, it was almost like home. It felt so real, he could almost taste the spaghetti cake Papyrus was baking...

"Welcome home, comedian." :)

 _ **XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**_

 **That's it for the first ARK! Woo! Thank you all so much for all the support you guys have given me, and I apologize that even my coming back apology chapter was a bit late. No excuses, it just took a long time to write this one. But on the bright side it's a super long chapter! Yay! I might put this story on hold until school ends so I can prepare to finish that, with finals coming up and everything. Feel free everyone to put in your imput on that, I'll be listening and make my decision on whether or not to write the next chapter by Thursday.**

 **Also, thought's on this ARK? Someone brought up an interesting concept in one of the reviews, saying how the last chapter portrayed Sans Out of Character (OOC). I beg to differ, this reviewer said that Sans wouldn't have told his backstory to random strangers. Well, first, they aren't TOTAL strangers at least. He has spent time with them and has seen some of their backgrounds through his eye. Secondly, he didn't tell Papyrus things because he was afraid of harming the innocence he held. Misaka and Kuroko clearly don't have that innocence. Thirdly, Sans will be a little OOC has we have only seen him in his depressed mode to which he hides everything. This viewing of him is what he would do if he didn't know everything from the timeline, and is bound to do things a little more differently the farther he gets from the timeline he's used to. Fourth, you're also seeing it from the perspective of "these two people invaded his property and mind, he has no need to apologize". Sans is also the same person who is trying not to fall, he's going down a dangerous path. Did you ever stop to think that perhaps Sans wasn't really forgiving Misaka and Kuroko, but those that he left to die? You'll see more of this in the Poltergeist ARK. He certainly needs a bit of explaining considering what he's done so far, I'll admit he's acting a bit OOC, but on purpose.**

 **Gonna put the faster review chapter thing on hold until I can get an actual upload schedule going. Sorry about that again. Also, I was told by a reviewer that you guys aren't able to review due to an error? Strange, not my doing. I have the choice to veto reviews if they're by a guest, but I've never done so… I enjoy the constructive criticism. Not sure why it did that, but I contacted Fanfiction support to try and help resolve the issue.**

 **Thank you to all of you who PMed me, and for those of you who think I'm going to let the story die… as long as there's at least 20 people reading each chapter I'll keep posting. I know I probably lost some readers with the lack of structure lately, but I'll be getting back into that groove again soon. When you're writing a story this big you gotta stay at least a little bit determined :)**

 _ **Thank you all and have a great day! (Did I mention this chapter was 10k words?)**_

 _ **Catalog of All Sans Natural Abilities:**_

 _ **Body Swap (SOUL Ability): One-of-a-kind ability that allows the user to take on the appearance of the SOUL left behind by another. Immensely painful and takes an inhuman sized magic pool. A result of laboratory testing and trials, unable to be replicated by natural means… that are known. Further testing necessary.**_

 _ **Gaster Blaster (Ability): Summons a skull imbued with magical ability. The jaws can be seen popping apart as they prepare to discharge the magic within. Powerful enough to cut through even the thickest of steels. Point of origin unknown. Further research required.**_

 _ **Graviton Well (Ability): Allows the user to create a field of gravity that can be used to propel objects in a direction by altering their gravity. Good for propelling bones, or the remains of someone you crushed into the stratosphere. However the ability has limited range, so don't expect anything too drastic.**_

 _ **Judgement (Passive): The ability to read a person's LOVE and EXP.**_

 _ **Judgement Eye (Ability): By focusing on a person's mind the user can see shards of a person's past. Not enough to know their past, but useful when needing small bits of information or threatening. You can tell when this skill is used when the user's speech seems to… lower. That's typically the case.**_

 _ **Light Show (Passive) Paired with Body Swap, an effect of changing from normal to a human body or vice versa. Light is released from the magic re-entering the magic pool, then followed by darkness from the space now void of magical energy. Can result in blinding.**_

 _ **Magic Meltdown (Passive): An effect of having massive magical pools without any way of venting it. Effects can vary from sickness to magical flames erupting from limbs or body parts. Can also be caused by Intense Rage or extreme magic use when paired with the Shadow Eye ability. Also known as a sign of weakness.**_

 _ **Shadow Eye (Ability): They say the eyes are the window to the SOUL. The user knows differently, as they can make theirs disappear on command. No side effects or physical effects, good for threatening. DeveLopeD bY ERRoR/?**_

 _ **Shortcut (Ability): Sans is able to teleport up to 500 Miles away if the known X and Y coordinates are present. However, without a picture of the location he cannot choose the altitude of his teleport. Without a picture he will ALWAYS land upon the highest land mass he can physically enter. (Ex. Rooftop) MUST be created in a shadow.**_

 _ **Time Slow (S Ability): A move not to be taken lightly. It can slow, or even freeze time. However, great power comes with great responsibility. It is a MAJOR (as marked by the "S") ability, and saps immense amounts of magical energy. The more energy that is prohibited by this ability, the more magical energy sapped. Not recommended for battle, especially one with high energy weaponry.**_

 _ **Voice Distortion (Ability): Much like the Shadow Eye ability, this is a way to intimidate your opponent. It gives Sans the ability to make his voice gain an echo and produce a hollow sound. Perfect for declaring the state of the world from a hallway.**_


End file.
